Shadows of Yesterday
by Ana Hazel
Summary: This is my version of the main events of Dark Empire taking into account the existence and participation of Mara Jade / Dark Empire AU.
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** Shadows of Yesterday

**Author:** Hazel

**Genre:** AU, drama, introspection.

**Characters:** Luke Skywalker, Mara Jade, Palpatine, H/L.

**Timeframe:** 9/10 ABY; Dark Empire AU

**Summary:** This is my version of the main events of Dark Empire taking into account the existence and participation of Mara Jade.

**Disclaimer**: The Star Wars Universe does not belong to me (unfortunately). I just like to play with it.

* * *

><p><em>The New Republic has struck a crippling blow in the heart of the Empire with the death of Grand Admiral Thrawn.<em>

_ In the heat of battle, new alliances were forged between the most unlikely subjects. _  
><em> The future seems brighter than ever.<em>

_ But unknown to the new and victorious government, something is brewing in the center of the Galaxy._

_ Darkness is growing and an old and powerful enemy is preparing to reemerge._

_ Time is of the essence and hard choices will have to be made._

_ Will those new alliances survive or will they crumble under the pressure of the Dark Side?_

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter One<strong>

_- Imperial Palace on Coruscant, two months after the death of Grand Admiral Thrawn._

Han Solo was not surprised to find his brother-in-law hovering over his slumbering two-month-old twins. He was, however, surprised when he noticed that Luke did not seem to be seeing the babies at all. His mind was obviously elsewhere.

"Hey, Kid!"

Luke practically jumped and his hand flew to his lightsaber before he realized there was no danger at all.

"Wow, Kid. Take it easy! Where was your head anyway? The Outer Rim?"

"Sorry, Han." Luke said, running his hand through his hair and trying to relax.

"What's wrong? Is it one of those Force things?"

"I'm not sure. I've been very much on edge lately but my head refuses to concentrate long enough for me to properly meditate on the situation."

"Hm!" Han shrugged and sat down on a nearby bench. He always felt out of his league when it came to the Force. It was far too complicated and he preferred to just trust his guts - they never failed him.

"So, what are you doing here? Weren't you supposed to be teaching Jade the ways of the Force?" The Corellian asked, making sure to introduce a certain level of friendly teasing into his inquiry. The Force thing could wait.

"Yeah, but that didn't turn out so well."

"Why? Did she take another whack at ya? You know I'm not sure you should have given her that lightsaber. If you ask me, if there's somethin' a former assassin doesn't need is more weapons."

"It's not like that, Han. Although... Well, Mara had other things to do and we had to cut the lesson short." Luke didn't want to say that the fiery redhead had stormed out of the workout room cursing beneath her breath the day she had given up her last command. He still wasn't sure what he had done to upset her.

"Did you step on her toes or somethin'?"

Luke should have known that there was no way to fool the Corellian.

"I guess I did," the Jedi replied. "I asked her to try out this exercise and then she said she couldn't and that she was going back to Karrde. Then I asked her for how long, since I wanted to plan out the next stage of her training and she lashed out. She accused me of being completely single-minded and she said that she was sick of all the training and that if she ever heard me say the word _Jedi_again it would be too soon. I swear I just don't get her; I thought she wanted to train."

Han snickered at Luke's description of the events. "You want my advice, Kid? Change tactics. Catch her by surprise and ask her to dinner instead of training. Jedi need to have fun too, you know."

"It's not like that, Han." Luke tried to underline. He really didn't think that he should ask Mara to something that even remotely resembled a date. She would surely refuse him and go away. Of course, asking her to train now seemed to have exactly the same effect. Why did Mara have to be so complicated?

"Then what's it like? Do you just want to be Mara's Jedi Master or do you want more than that?"

"I want to help her achieve her full potential."

"Nothin' else?" Han insisted.

Luke stared at his feet for a moment, pondering his feelings and trying to translate them into words. He had already realized that he harbored deep feelings towards her but wasn't confident enough to talk about them. It was easier to downplay them.

"I want to be her friend. I want her to think of me as a friend."

"Right." Han said, not sounding at all convinced. "Hey, Kid, would I be right to assume that Jade is the reason that you can't concentrate on figuring out the reason of your edginess?"

Luke gave him a sheepish look but didn't answer. Blasted Corellian intuition; sometimes Luke had to wonder if Han wasn't Forse-sensitive.

"I thought so." Han concluded, not missing the unspoken answer.

At that moment, one of the infants, Jaina, began to stir and soon was crying for attention.

As Han rushed to his little girl and picked her up before she awoke her brother, Luke took the opportunity to ask about Leia.

"She's stuck in a meeting with Fey'lya. I swear, sometimes he forgets Leia is a mother now and doesn't have time for his tantrums."

"Yeah." Luke replied, but Han could tell his mind was elsewhere again.

"So, what is this feeling you've been havin' but can't concentrate on? Is it one of those danger warning Force things?" The Corellian asked, trying to bring his brother-in-law back to reality.

"Yes, but it's hidden." Luke began explaining. "It feels familiar and powerful, but when I try to seek it out, it hides and blocks me."

"And Jade won't let you concentrate on it?"

"It's like... This is going to sound strange—"

"Like everything else isn't strange at all." Han commented sarcastically, but signaled Luke to continue.

"It's like there's a connection between thinking of Mara and feeling this thing. One always follows the other."

"Could she be the source? Maybe you're not out of the woods yet."

"No, that's not it. It's more like... I don't know, I can't understand it. Maybe she has a part to play in it, whatever it is."

"Well," Han tried to sound reassuring, "just relax and it will come to you. Keep your eyes opened, though."

"Yeah, right." Luke could do nothing more than agree.

*o*o*

To say that Mara Jade was pissed off would have been an understatement. Why did Skywalker always have to do this? Why did he feel the need to drive her up a wall?

Their lesson had been going fine. She enjoyed the physical part of the training and most especially, she enjoyed sparring with him. It was challenging and fun, and it allowed her to release some of the day's frustrations that gathered around her nerve endings whenever she had to attend meetings and negotiate deals on behalf of the Smugglers' Alliance.

And then he had to ruin it by asking her to turn her senses inwardly, to her very core. Didn't he understand that that was where the ghosts lived; the ones that haunted her?

Mara had already told him that she wasn't ready to face them yet, that she needed time to come to terms with the things she had done. What she hadn't told him was that every time she tried what he had asked for, the voice grew louder.

_His_ voice, the voice of the one she had served for most of her life. She couldn't tell Skywalker that she could still hear the Emperor's voice inside her head.

It wasn't as loud and clear as before, but only because she was keeping her shields up at maximum, but when she dropped them just a bit or turned her senses inwardly, like Skywalker had asked her to, it was loud and clear. The voice still demanded that she'd kill Skywalker and then demanded to know why she hadn't.

She wasn't worried about giving in - she knew she wouldn't, not any more. But she _was _worried about her sanity. And those headaches... they felt like she was being hit with Force-lightning from within.

Mara wondered if this was because of _where_ she was – the Imperial Palace, the place where _he _used to live and had trained her. That was the reason why she wanted to leave. Maybe if she left, the voice would stop for good.

But before Mara could leave, there was still one thing she needed to do.

*o*o*

_That same night..._

Luke was sound asleep in his bed, but there was something that was trying to draw him out of that state. A beeping something.

Struggling to awake his sleepy brain and muscles, he reached for the culprit - his personal comlink. Through the corner of his eye, Luke noticed that the chrono on his night stand marked 0325 hours. 'Coruscant better be under attack.' He thought before clicking on the comlink.

"Yes?" He answered with a half-dragged, sleepy voice. This state only lasted a couple more seconds and by the time Luke spoke again he was wide awake. "I'll be right there."

o*o

As Luke was reaching the Palace Security's main office, he saw that his sister was also coming. His first thought was that someone had tried to kidnap the babies again.

"Do you know what this is about, Luke?" She asked her brother as soon as they were at arm's length.

There went Luke's first guess. If someone had tried to take Leia's twins, she certainly knew nothing about it. Of course, the beings involved might have been caught as they were breaking in, it would explain Leia's ignorance of the situation.

"No idea. You got called too?"

"Yeah."

Luke studied his sister for a moment. He had to wonder if she had had any sleep during this night... yet. Between two infants and these middle-of-the-night calls, Leia was stretching herself too thin, and it was starting to show. She had lost a lot of weight, had dark circles under her eyes and looked permanently tired. Whatever this call was about, couldn't it have waited until morning to call Leia?

When they walked into the office, they were met by the stern features of the Director of Security, Colonel Jak Bremen.

"Councilor Organa Solo, Commander Skywalker. I called you here to inform you that there was a trespass in the restricted areas of the Palace, tonight. We have caught the perpetrator."

"Great! Why did you have to wake me and my brother up to tell us that you did your job?"

Leia's tone was thoroughly acidic, but the Colonel wasn't fazed by it. He merely smirked and pointed to the being inside the questioning room.

"I believe she's a friend of yours."

Inside the room, sitting on a metal chair with her arms crossed over her chest and looking extremely annoyed was the former Emperor's Hand and new Alliance ally, Mara Jade.

-TBC...


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

Mara Jade was trying to extract calm and patience from the Force and was failing miserably.

She was sitting in an intensely lit interrogation room, undergoing the Alliance's version of relentless questioning - which for a former imperial agent was kind of a joke as it seemed especially designed to make the subject roll his or her eyes to death - and refusing to cooperate while going over her steps in her mind to ascertain what mistake had she made.

Mara had planned her little raid in the tiniest of details, taking every precaution to not trip any alarms and remain inconspicuous every step of the way, in hopes of avoiding the exact situation she was finding herself at that moment. Obviously, she had failed. Palace Security must have installed new measures recently, ones that didn't show up on her scans.

'Oh, well. I'll just have to ride this one out too.' Mara thought as her interrogator asked her what was she doing in the top level of the palace for the hundredth time in the course of the last hour.

"Looking for a refresher?" She said drily, giving him the hundredth different answer. Maybe if she were to tell the truth, he would have shut up and let her be, the logical part of her brain suggested. The problem was, the logical part of Mara's brain was being overruled by a throbbing headache and the general state of annoyance she found herself in.

From the corner of her eye, Mara saw Colonel Bremen exit the room. She didn't have to ask herself why, she was already feeling the identity of the people coming this way.

'Terrific!' The snarky part of her brain snorted at her. 'Show's over, Jade.'

Suddenly she felt really, really tired.

~x~

A few minutes later, Leia Organa Solo and Luke Skywalker walked into the interrogation room and took seats in front of Mara, after dimming the lights in there. Mara's eyes immediately felt relief at lowered brightness.

"Mara," Leia started in a weary voice. "Could you please tell us what were you doing trying to access the Emperor's chambers so that I can go back to bed?"

The redhead felt the urge to apologize to the new mother. Even though she was far too proud to show it, Mara had grown to like the former princess and admired her courage and strength. Leia really looked like she needed a rest.

Yet, a little something inside Mara still rebelled at the thought of giving up her reasons. She had been standing up to the interrogation for over an hour now and her defenses were still at maximum. She felt something soothing reaching her through the Force and she knew it was Luke's touch. It wasn't intrusive at all; he wasn't trying to pry her reasons from her, instead he was just helping her to calm down and making her feel like she was among friends.

She stole a glance at the mirrored surface that connected to the adjoining room and sought out the presences inside - there were none.

"I told them that you were running a test on their security system." Luke answered her unspoken question.

"Well then, they are to be commended. It is very good." Mara replied humorlessly. She realized that both Leia and Luke had vouched for her and lied to cover her actions. They did this because they trusted her and believe she must have had a very good cause to do what she had done. Now they wanted to know why and she owed them the truth.

"You really want to know what I was doing up in the Emperor's wing?"

The two siblings nodded and waited for her to continue.

"I was looking for information about me. I wanted to see if I could find something about where I came from and why he chose me."

Mara's revelation was met with surprise by the Skywalker twins. They had often wondered about those things and had even asked Mara about them, but she had always dismissed them with retorts and excuses. Still, they knew she was telling the truth - they could see it in her eyes.

"You thought you'd find something there?" Luke asked in that usually warm and tender tone that seemed to want to melt Mara's heart.

She nodded and continued, explaining her reasoning.

"He kept records of everything and compiled the information in journals. He had several where he wrote down his thoughts and plans. They were heavily encrypted and hidden in secret partitions in the general mainframe, but I might be able to find them."

The thought that Palpatine would have kept something like this had occurred to Leia and other members of the New Republic before, and that was why they had searched for the information when they took over Coruscant. They had found very little and had eventually given up, but now Mara was saying that the information was there but well hidden. Well, if anyone would know about it, it would be Mara Jade.

Leia was so excited about the prospect that she almost forgot how tired she was and began bombarding Mara with questions that the redhead really didn't know how to answer. Mara tried to explain that she never had actually seen the journals, only knew that they existed once and hoped that they were still there.

After another hour had almost gone by, and after watching Leia attempting to suppress a yawn, Luke decided they could continue this in the morning - or rather, in the afternoon, since morning was only a very few hours away and they were all pretty tired. He promised both women that he would personally help them search and find the information they desired, but at that moment, they should just go get some rest.

When they agreed, Luke walked both women back to their quarters, first Leia then Mara, and turned in himself. As he prepared to go to sleep, he tried very hard to forget how hurt he was that Mara didn't seek out his help with this matter to begin with.

~x~ ~x~ ~x~

The next day started late for all involved in the previous night's affair.

Han, having taken notice of the time his wife had returned, had literally made sure no one bothered her while she slept by turning off her comlink and placing Noghri guards outside the bedroom with strict instructions to not let anyone enter. Then he had taken the babies with him to the berth where he kept the _Falcon_ so that he could keep an eye on them while he and Chewie proceeded on making repair and adjustments to the ship.

When she finally woke up, and after having a good enough meal, Leia was swept away by all the beings that had been trying to reach her all morning and had to relent and let Luke and Mara seek out Palpatine's journals on their own. All she could do to help was procure a special mandate from Mon Mothma to permit them to conduct the search without prying eyes hanging over their shoulders.

~x~ ~x~ ~x~

The Emperor's private chambers, situated in the highest tower of the Imperial Palace, were probably one of the creepiest places Luke had ever found himself in. It seemed to him that the very stone covering the walls was trying to suck in his soul.

Luke found himself comparing the energy of this place to the one in that cave on Dagobah where he had had that terrible vision, years before. They were both very dark, but resonated differently within him. Where the feel of the cave had been overwhelmingly violent, here it was encroaching in an almost gradual fashion. If he had to explain it to someone else, Luke would say that the cave was like suddenly being thrown into ice cold water, while the Emperor's chambers felt more like a slow immersion in said ice cold water. It was softer and almost painless, but the ultimate result was the same - death.

Watching Mara walking a few steps ahead, he had to wonder if she felt it too. She seemed even more guarded than usual, so Luke assumed that she was just as uncomfortable as he was, perhaps more considering her background and her misgivings about the past.

~x~

'This is so strange.' Mara thought to herself while walking down the Emperor's chambers' main aisle. She had walked down this aisle so many times in her life and yet its familiarity felt so cold to her, so utterly uncomfortable.

Mara had been concerned, earlier that day, about doing this with Skywalker. She was afraid that this _visit_ to the Emperor's chambers would make the voice grow louder and that Skywalker would find out about it. She really didn't want him to know, it would give him the wrong impression. But why would she worry about what Skywalker thought of her?

She quickly set that thought aside. Mara Jade did not care about what Skywalker thought of her at all.

Except that she did.

"Did we really have to bring that droid along?" Mara inquired, just so she could distract herself from her current line of thought.

Her reclamation was met with a warbled retort from the astromech droid.

"Mara, we agreed that Artoo could help with the decryption codes. Remember?" Luke replied and patted Artoo on the dome for reassurance. "Don't mind her, buddy, she's just in a bad mood."

In the meantime, they had reached the throne room's main entrance and Mara began typing in codes she had memorized long ago.

When the doors slid open and Mara took the first step inside, she was assaulted by the memories of her former self, kneeling in front of her master, the sound of his voice, the touch of his fingers on her cheek and of his overbearing Force presence all around her. A wave of disgust took over her.

Mara immediately felt Skywalker at her side, keeping her from collapsing and allowing her to collect herself before going any further.

"We don't have to do this today, if you don't want to." He said, still keeping his hand on her back.

"Yes, we do. No point in procrastinating. I'm fine now."

Luke stayed close to Mara while they entered the throne room, both physically and with his Force-presence. It felt like he was shielding her from the room's pernicious effects at the same time as giving her the space she needed to think and act and Mara was once again divided between the thankfulness she felt about his presence and the sting of pride about having needed his help again.

Mara walked away from him and pointed to a station in one of the corners of the room.

"Let's see if that droid is really useful. Plug it there."

Luke indicated the station to Artoo and asked him to start his search. The Jedi had previously explained to the droid what they were going to do and how, so Artoo started his search pattern right away.

"Do you think we'll be able to access the hidden partitions with your codes?" Luke asked Mara.

"Probably not. We'll have to slice our way in."

~x~

It took almost an hour for Artoo to locate the hidden portions of the Palace's mainframe, but once he did, it was clear that there was indeed much information there.

The system was obviously designed to be used only by one person and it was very very confusing. Finding one particular piece of information in the middle of that mess would be like finding one particular datachip in a sea of datachips.

But Artoo knew what he was doing, since he had been doing this kind of thing for far longer than his master imagined, so the little droid had prepared in advance.

When Luke had told him about the task at hand and its objectives, Artoo had opened vast areas in the New Republic servers where he would send the information obtained from the Emperors secret partitions after he filtered it himself, cataloging and organizing it through a series of pre-chosen keywords. This kind of job would take years for a team of living analysts to perform and months for a team of droid analysts because they didn't know what they were doing. Artoo did.

He would not attempt to store any information himself and merely used his processors to sort it, going as far as transferring all query results directly to the servers. In the end he would then access the servers and retrieve the queries and the most important pieces of data.

But first of all he would have to determine what algorithm best cracked the encryption used by the Emperor. Fortunately, Palpatine and R2-D2 went _way_ back.

~x~

While Artoo was working, Luke tried to engage Mara in amiable conversation but she just wouldn't respond, answering him only in half sentences and grunts. It was obvious something was bothering her and it was something she did not care to share.

When the first results started showing up, he saw how Mara directed her attention towards them just so she didn't have to talk to him.

In truth, Mara's mind was as jumbled as Palpatine's filing system. A hundred thoughts a minute raced through it and she couldn't concentrate in a single one. Since entering the throne room, Mara's mind had revisited all the times she had been to that room, all the orders Palpatine had given her and all the training she had had. She remembered all the faces that she had seen within these walls and the exchanged words.

In the logical side of her mind, she found that she could detach herself from the Emperor's Hand persona, that was another life and one that had been imposed on her without her permission.

The emotional side of her mind was a little harder to appease. She felt anger what the Emperor for using her and deceiving her, making her believe the lies he fed her. She had once thought of him as the savior of the galaxy when, in truth, he was its biggest enemy. But mostly, she was angry at herself for being so kriffing blind.

To think that it took a farmboy from the middle of nowhere to open her eyes.

An echo of the Emperor's last command rang in her ears making Mara flinch. If that order no longer had any meaning to her, why wouldn't it go away already? It was like the Emperor was still out there, trying to make her obey. Or trying to drive her nuts.

Mara turned her attention to a terminal and began scanning through Artoo's query results to distract herself from all her other thoughts.

Some minutes later, she felt Luke approaching and taking a seat next to her. Even though she didn't want to talk, his presence beside her felt good.

Some hours later, and after realizing that Artoo had everything under control and that they really weren't doing anything in the throne room, Luke had Mara decided to leave the little droid to his chore and go back to their part of the Imperial Palace.

On their way there, Luke took the opportunity to ask Mara for a late dinner.

"What, now?" Mara asked, not bothering to hide her surprise.

"Yeah, I know it's late but I think we can still call it dinner."

"Skywalker, it _is_ late and I'm really tired."

"Exactly why I insist. I'm pretty sure if I let you go back to your suite without eating something first, you just won't. So, I intend to feed you first."

Mara chuckled at his response. He was so right to think that.

"Ok, fine. But I'm warning you Skywalker, I don't want to hear one word about Jedi training."

"Deal." He smirked and led her back to his place.

In the end, there wasn't much talk of anything through dinner, but Luke got the impression that Mara was enjoying the calm and his company. He made a silent note to thank Han for the idea.

-TBC...


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

Early the next morning, Luke was awakened by Artoo's high-pitched chittering informing him that he had completed the task and that the contents of the Emperor's secret had been cataloged and copied to the New Republic's mainframe and were now ready to be properly accessed and searched through a standard Palace terminal.

Artoo regretted, however, to report that many of the files only linked to others had been stored in remote locations and seemed to be no longer available. The little droid was still attempting to retrieve them, but he feared that the remote location might have been Mount Tantiss.

The first thing Luke did was comm Mara with the update. They agreed to meet in her suite within a half-hour since her place was probably quieter than Luke's and Luke offered to bring them breakfast.

"Gods, Skywalker, you really _are_convinced I don't have any food here, aren't you?" Mara commented, smirking.

"Ration bars don't count as food, Mara."

"Fine, bring breakfast." She grumpily accepted.

~x~

When Luke and Artoo arrived at Mara's, she was already going through the files. She was not happy at all and Luke could feel her boiling anger two whole levels away.

Artoo had catalogued the data using a series of keywords, 'Mara Jade' and 'Emperor's Hand' among others, and those were the ones Mara was interested in. There was very little under 'Mara Jade', mostly recent reports from her missions, but there was a lot more under 'Emperor's Hand'.

"That lying, scum-swallowing, filth-sucking, drooling worm!" She cried when Luke entered her rooms. He hadn't even knocked on the door but she didn't seem to notice.

Mara was sitting on the couch that was placed to one side of the main living area of her assigned quarters, clutching two pieces of a datapad in her hands. All around the room were evidence that Mara's fury had already taken its due course. All the chairs in the room had been knocked down as if kicked and there were some assorted items in pieces on the floor. Mara herself was flushed and her eyes were red-rimmed.

After instructing Artoo to continue attempting to retrieve the missing files, Luke took a seat next to her and placed his hand on her back and rubbed it gently in a supporting fashion, hoping she wouldn't push him away and that she would confide in him.

~x~

Pushing Luke away was, at that moment, the furthest thing from Mara's mind. Even though her anger was already dwindling, she still felt like the volume of what she had just learned was about to burst out of her chest if she didn't talk about it. And who better than Luke to listen and not divulge?

So, Mara called up the file she had been previously viewing to another datapad and showed it to him. The Jedi took it from her hand and studied it carefully. It was a series of charts entitled _'Hands' Proficiency Status'_and it showed to what degree several subjects responded to and resolved the same tasks. Mara's name showed the highest scores in most aspects, but there were at least a dozen other names there.

"I really believed I was the only one," she started, letting her sorrow show fully. She knew Luke wouldn't mind. "I thought that I was special and unique. Irreplaceable, even. I'm so stupid!"

"You're not stupid, Mara. Naïve maybe, but definitely not stupid."

Mara glared at Luke when he called her _naïve_, but only for a second. She knew he was being kind; naïve was the very least someone would call her.

"Was _everything_he ever told me a lie?" Seeing the look plastered across Luke's face, she added: "Don't answer that." His response would only underline her foolishness.

"Thrawn knew," she continued. "He told me aboard the _Chimaera_but I didn't believe him."

Trying to steer Mara's mood away from the topic of 'Hands', Luke decided it was a good time to mention breakfast.

"I know what you need." He got up and fetched two cups from the tray he had brought in. "I don't know if you're familiar with this," he said, uncovering one of the cups and handing it over to her. "It's hot chocolate. Lando introduced it to me some time ago. I like it very much."

"It's sweet," she noted, taking another sip. The drink was indeed sweet and hot, and Mara found it somewhat comforting. It kind of melted away her bitterness and invigorated her at the same time. Sort of like Luke did when he wasn't bugging her with his Jedi doctrines.

Halfway through the meal, Luke thought it safe to ask Mara if she found anything else concerning her background.

"I found a journal of my training that contained summaries of my first medical checkup and lessons. It includes a birth date and several notes referring to my abilities at the time. There are some links that lead nowhere; I guess they must have been stored in that remote location Artoo is trying to find."

Mara's guess was confirmed by Artoo's warbles.

"There was a footnote in the journal that read _'the child is a perfect mix of her parents' abilities'_." Mara added sadly and Luke could tell she was fighting back a tear.

~x~

After breakfast, they both went back to work, going through the data as it seemed to call to them. Leia had commed Luke and told him that the NRI would soon be taking over for the search but asked him to continue searching for anything that would raise a flag in his Force-sense. It was important to prioritize.

Mara, on her end, had promptly agreed to help the Jedi because it was both a way to repay his kindness and to drive a wedge into her 'faithfulness' to the Emperor. It also didn't hurt that _his_voice seemed to quiet down when Luke was around.

The two of them quickly came to the conclusion that the files available to them were related to ongoing projects and that the ones they couldn't access, and Artoo was still trying to locate, were older projects that had been terminated.

While Mara was going through the stack of files with the highest hits per keyword, Luke was going through the most recent entries. There were many files in there that had been accessed after the Emperor's death and even after the New Republic had taken over the Palace.

"I think Thrawn had access to these." Luke commented.

"Probably. Why do you say that?"

"There are a lot of files here that were accessed in the last year." Luke keyed in a command and made the files display according to date. "Let me rephrase that. There are a lot of files here that were accessed in the last two weeks. Mara, somebody out there is accessing these files."

"Was it from the Palace?" She questioned, jumping to her feet and joining him at the terminal.

"Artoo, can you tell if these files were accessed from within the Palace?" Luke instructed the droid.

Artoo beeped and answered in a negative. The files were being accessed from another location and the location's ID was the same as that of some of the files Artoo had been trying to locate.

"Put a rush on that, Artoo." Luke told the droid while he opened some of those files.

The content of the files made Luke even more nervous. Some were of two former Emperor's Hands, others were personnel files and others, far more disturbing, were the plans for a superweapon labeled 'World Devastator'.

Luke was about to go through those plans when Mara noticed a couple of other files that had been accessed recently. They had been catalogued under the keyword 'Gene Study'. She opened it and they saw it contained a complete map of the Palpatine's genetic structure, the kind one would have made when planning to create a clone of a being.

"Oh, stang!" Mara muttered under her breath.

Luke was completely speechless.

~x~ ~x~ ~x~

An hour later, Luke and Mara were at Leia's office, informing her and Han of their findings.

"So, somebody out there is trying to create a clone of the Emperor?" Han questioned in disbelief.

"That's what we're thinking," Luke confirmed, "and that same somebody is probably building some terrible superweapons called _World Devastators_. I haven't exactly gone through the plans in detail but with a name like that —"

"— it ain't gonna be pretty." Han concluded when Luke's speech faltered.

During this exchange, Leia was sitting at her desk with her head buried in her hands. All she could think of was that, if Luke was right, some crazy being out there was trying to resurrect the Empire, Emperor included. What more could this galaxy throw at them?

Leia raised her head from her hands and noticed Mara sitting in front of her. The redhead was looking paler than usual, seemed to be deep in thought and was shielding heavily. She also seemed to be biting her nails. Leia had no idea Mara had that habit, or maybe she was just so nervous that she fell back into some very old habits. She wasn't the only one that noticed Mara's tense state.

"Hey, wait a minute, Kid. Do you think this has something to do with that edginess you told me about two days ago?" Han asked, remembering the talk he and Luke had had and that it seemed to have some kind of connection to Mara.

Luke thought it over and said: "Yes, I think so." His thoughts also turned to Mara. What part was she to play in this and had she played it already? It was thanks to Mara that they had found this information in the first place, but somehow Luke didn't think that was the end of her involvement. He hoped he was wrong, though.

~x~

Mara felt as Luke's thoughts centered on her. She was also aware that Leia's and Han's attention was also turned to her, but that didn't seem as important at the moment. She had heard Luke confirming his uneasy feelings and found that they mirrored her own.

Once again, the echoes of the Emperor's last command resounded in her head, starting another headache. Maybe this was the reason that she could still hear the Emperor in her head – he was going to return and demand her allegiance back.

But she wouldn't give it to _him_, not again, not anymore. Mara felt her resolve rise up and muffle _his_voice. Looking up, she found in Skywalker's trusting blue eyes the strength she needed to tell him and the Solos about the voice and the way it manifested and made her feel.

They needed to know everything.

~x~

If Luke or the Solos were shocked by Mara's disclosure, they hid it well and she was thankful for it. Her revelations confirmed that this was indeed a threat to take into account.

Further confirmation came when Artoo strode in the room and, with Threepio's help, announced he had found the location from where the files had been accessed.

It was a planet situated in the center of the galaxy and labeled, in the Emperor's map, as Byss.

After a few moments of silence, Luke got up from his seat and stated with conviction.

"I have to go there and check it out."

"You're not going there alone, Kid." Han immediately jumped up.

"I have to, Han. I have a better chance to sneak in undetected if I go alone."

"But it's crazy, Luke." Leia stepped in. "We have no idea what you'll find."

"Luke is not going alone." Mara interrupted, also getting up. "I'm going too. Whatever is there, I need to face it head on."

Luke wanted to argue with Mara, tell her that she shouldn't go, but looking into her decisive green eyes, he couldn't. He knew this was her call and, even if he didn't approve, it was the path she needed to take – for better or worse.

"We'll both go then."

-TBC...


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four **

_- Three days later..._

Despite having thoroughly prepared for this mission, Mara still had the nagging feeling that she and Luke were missing the bigger picture.

They, along with the Solos and a few members of the New Republic Intelligence, had surmised that they had stumbled across the final part of Thrawn's plan, which had been put on hold because of the Grand Admiral's death and was now being spearheaded by somebody else. But who could that someone be? Who would be mad enough to try to clone the Emperor?

"We're approaching Byss, Mara." Luke's voice sounded through the transport's comm system, bringing the redhead out of her state of deep thought.

'I guess we're about to find out.' Mara answered herself, hurrying to join Skywalker in the cockpit.

Their plan was relatively simple. They had found an old inconspicuous transport in one of Coruscant's old hangars and had flown it to Byss using a route Artoo had discovered in the Emperor's secret files and was referred to as the Byss Run.

The rest of the plan was a little trickier. They had to land the transport at a safe distance from their intended destination without being spotted. Sneak in and find out what the hell was going on. Despite Mara's protests that the plan was far too dependent upon luck and improvisation, Luke was fairly confident that they would succeed.

~x~

_"It will be just like Wayland." Luke had stated at the time._

_"Wayland was a trap, Skywalker." Mara had countered._

_"And we still won."_

_Mara had rolled her eyes at the Jedi but shut up about it. She knew the optimistic Farmboy turned Jedi would not be dithered by her reasoning and she had already had her way by introducing herself into the mission. She'd just have to keep him out of trouble._

~x~

The first thing Luke and Mara noticed as their transport approached Byss' outer orbit was the amount of construction docks orbiting the planet. They were all occupied with what Luke recognized as half-built World Devastators except for one that was wrapped around the frame of a tube-shaped space station. It was safe to assume that they really were in the right place.

As the ship drew closer, another aspect of the planet hit them hard. The entire planet was completely enveloped by the dark side of the Force. It was something far stronger than either Luke or Mara had ever encountered, and it started to creep up on their Force-senses, trying to take hold of them.

Luke was trying to steady their course when he heard Mara scream beside him.

The pain that coursed through Mara's head when the tendrils of the dark power touched her was quickly overwhelming her and after a minute she could no longer protect herself from it.

The last thing she heard before everything went dark was the resounding voice of her former master shouting 'TRAITOR'.

~x~

Luke felt the pain in Mara's head like it was his own, but maybe because it wasn't aimed at him, he was able to withstand it longer. He was still able to keep her from crashing on the floor and strap her to the co-pilot chair before instructing Artoo to land the transport according to the stipulated plan before the darkness took him over and he collapsed into the pilot chair.

~x~ ~x~ ~x~

When he came to, Luke found himself lying on the black rock floor of a very large round room. His surroundings were dipped in a dark bluish hue that didn't allow him to see very far. Reaching with the Force, he found Mara a few feet away from him, also regaining consciousness and even further from them, another presence – this one, just beyond the reach of his eyes, felt overbearingly dark and disturbingly familiar.

Luke scrounged to his feet and reached for the woman who was trying to do the same.

"Are you alright?" He asked, in a very low voice, helping her up.

Mara nodded, but her words didn't convince him. Even with the absence of light, Luke could tell she was very pale and he didn't even need the Force to feel her head throbbing. Luke was still supporting her when a sound of bone-chilling chuckles filled the large room.

As the chuckles reached his ears, Luke felt Mara stiffen next to him and turned to face the same way she was. Then everything became clear.

Sitting on a throne in the middle of the room, his sickly yellow eyes pinned on them, was none other than Mara's former Master, Emperor Palpatine.

"Aren't you two sweet?" The hooded figure of the Emperor spoke in his familiar crackly voice. "And how considerate of you to have come. Although, I must say I was not expecting either one of you this soon." Palpatine continued while the two people in front of him stared dumbfounded. "Still, I welcome you both to my Citadel."

~x~

While Palpatine talked, Mara's mind was going a-parsec-a-second. Was he real? Was he really there or was this just another nightmare? She reached out with the Force to the hooded figure and found that his presence, albeit familiar to her, was even more oppressive than she remembered. If it was because he was indeed more powerful or just because she was no longer under his thumb, Mara could not tell.

Either way, she wished she could be somewhere else now.

Standing next to her, Luke was going through similar thoughts. He couldn't believe that the Emperor, the despot his father had killed on the second Death Star at great personal cost, was now right in front of him talking like nothing like that had ever happened.

He and Mara had come to Byss to find out which crazy minion had taken upon himself to resurrect the Empire and the Emperor. They had not considered that the deed was already done.

A shift in Mara's stance caused Luke to turn his thoughts to her and he was forced to wonder how she was faring. Mara was obviously as surprised as he was, but was she shaken, were the regrets she had voiced previously still holding or was she tempted to reaffirm her former allegiance to Palpatine. The tightening of her grasp on his arm answered his questions. Mara was holding on to _him_ not the Emperor.

The only part of Luke's heart that was not in shock over the resurgence of the Emperor was ecstatic at that realization. The Jedi could not linger on it, though, and he was forced to turn all his attention to the dark tyrant in front of him since it seemed he was sensing Luke's thoughts.

"So, my child, you have finally found your way back to me." Palpatine oozed to his former Hand. "I see that you have brought me young Skywalker even though I had ordered you to kill him. It seems you have been away from my influence a little too long."

Luke felt Mara take a step back and away from the hooded figure. He could feel her fear and anger rising up. Fearing for her safety, he took a step to stand between them.

"I'll deal with you later, young Skywalker." The Emperor spat at him and Force-lunged him away from Mara.

"Is this any way to greet your master, my Hand?"

"Stay away from me." She muttered, trying to keep her voice from faltering.

"It seems you need to be reeducated. You will soon call me Master, again."

"Never. NEVER!" Mara exclaimed fiercely.

Luke watched powerlessly as Palpatine's face turned into a scowl and sparkling rays of lightning came out of his fingertips. He barely had time to shout a watch out to Mara before the rays extended and hit her, throwing the former Hand clear across the room and filling Luke's nostrils with the smell of ozone.

It had been a very powerful charge and now Mara lay on the other side of the throne room unconscious and barely alive.

It was with deep regret that Luke realized that, without any other help, he was no match for the Emperor. He had once again led his friend into a trap.

He promised himself that he would do _whatever it took_ to make sure Mara survived.

Luke tore his eyes away from Mara's unconscious form when he felt the Emperor's piercing gaze fall upon him.

-TBC...


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

Luke felt the Emperor's yellow eyes watching his every move at the same time he heard his mocking gloat.

"Once again, Young Skywalker, you have come to me of your own free will. Are you ready to take your father's place at my side?"

Luke weighted his options carefully, trying to reel in his roiling emotions.

Mara lay unconscious on the far side of the room, her body twitching with involuntary spasms; the lightning blow Palpatine had thrown at her had been extremely violent and she would need time to recover, therefore he could not count on her help. On top of that, Luke could now feel several guards just outside the throne room so, even if Luke succeeded in getting them away from Palpatine, they would not get far.

Luke's gaze drifted back to the immobile body on the far side of the throne room, unable to hide his concern for Mara, as guilt took over his heart.

"You have strong feelings for her. Do not try to hide them, Skywalker, I can sense them clearly. How ironic that you should find yourself infatuated by your assassin."

Luke didn't bother to deny Palpatine's assumptions, he had tried that approach in the Death Star and failed and the Emperor was already aware of them. Instead he focused on his Jedi calming techniques.

"Has she seduced you yet?" Palpatine continued, trying to goad Luke into reacting. "Does she parade other lovers in front of you? She was always a feisty one and it gave me great pleasure to tame her the first time around. But I think this time I will let Cronal have a go at her. He does enjoy his little _experiments_. Have you met Cronal, boy?"

Luke _had_ met Cronal. It had been five years earlier on the planet Mindor. Cronal or Shadowspawn as he called himself at the time, had set up a up base there and laid waste to the Inner Rim with his legion of dark clad stormtroopers. Luke, then a general, had commanded the NR forces through several battles and had personally confronted the former imperial only to find out that he was a devious and mad being, completely engrossed in the dark side, that overrode the will of people and took control of them. Luke had defeated Cronal then, but at the cost of thousands of lives. This had been Luke's last official battle as a member of the New Republic's armed forces and he had retired after to proceed with his Jedi studies.

The thought of that monster laying a hand on Mara made Luke's insides twitch and burn.

Out of nowhere, two members of the Imperial Royal Guards appeared.

"Take the woman to Lord Cronal." Palpatine ordered.

"NO!" Luke cried out, Force lunging the guards away from Mara.

Luke's reaction spiked interest in the Emperor. "You wish to save her? Perhaps we can make an arrangement, young Skywalker. Take your father's place at my side, allow me to finish your training and I will give you my Hand. You can do with her as you please."

A mix of panic and relief washed through the Jedi when he realized the full meaning of the Emperor's proposal. Mara would not be harmed if he agreed to become Palpatine's new apprentice. But it was a high price to pay. Luke would be surrendering his soul to the darkness if he did it, wouldn't he? Maybe he should refuse, but then Mara would be toast and so would he. No, refusal was not an option.

Maybe he could just pretend to take on his father's shoes while Mara recovered and then get the hell out of there as soon as they were able too? How long would it take her to recover? Luke remembered how he felt after his last confrontation with Palpatine's Force-lightning and he was pretty sure Mara had been hit with a greater charge.

And while they were there, maybe he could gather some intel to take back to Coruscant. After all, the New Republic needed to know exactly what was going on so they could prepare.

People always told him he was a terrible liar, but now Luke was going to lie his, and Mara's, way out of this mess. He prayed the Force would help him.

"Very well, I agree." The Jedi declared, hoping he wasn't relinquishing his soul with his words.

"Good." Palpatine smirked coldly and turned to the guards. "Take her to the empty quarters two levels down."

Then signaling to Luke, the Emperor continued. "Come here, young one. Let me show you what I have accomplished."

As the words were spoken, a giant holoscreen lit up the room. In it Luke saw displayed the construction docs he and Mara had seen while coming and the Emperor began explaining how he planned to take the galaxy back.

~x~ ~x~ ~x~

Almost an hour had passed when Luke was escorted to his quarters, the one two levels down to where Mara had been taken.

When he entered the rooms, he found his redheaded companion standing in the middle of the floor having some sort of staring contest with the two guards that had brought her in. She was seething and her anger burned red-hot in the Force, but Luke could tell that she was holding on on stubbornness alone and was very much in pain.

As the Jedi approached, the two guards saw fit to take their leave.

"Skywalker, what the blazes is going on here? Where have you been?" Mara questioned, not even trying to subdue her anger.

Was Luke imagining things or was there a note of concern in Mara's tone?

"Mara, you need to rest." Luke said as he came up to her and directed her to the large bed. All he could think about were the warnings made to him by the Too-Onebee droid that had taken care of him after his last encounter with the Emperor. Bacta or bed rest, or the damage will be permanent.

But, of course, Mara Jade was too single-minded to just follow his direction.

"Don't coddle me, Skywalker! Just answer my questions."

"And I will. But only after you calm down."

Mara sat on the bed and leaned back into the mountain of pillows, but kept her harsh gaze pinned on the Jedi and her arms crossed on her chest. "Now, what's going on here, Skywalker?"

Luke sat down in front of her, took a few steadying deep breaths and prepared to deliver the hardest explanation of his life.

"The Emperor's back, Mara."

"No kidding!" She bit at him. "Were you with him all this time?"

"Yes. He was bragging to me about his plan."

"And why was he bragging instead of killing or incarcerating you? In fact, why am I now in these comfortable chambers instead when he was ready to kill me less than an hour ago?"

_Hardest explanation_ was the understatement of the century. Luke took another very deep breath and just spit it out.

"I made a deal with him, Mara. He would spare your life in exchange for my allegiance."

Mara's shock was so great that she just stared at the man in front of her for a moment. How could he do that?

'WHAT!" She snapped and smacked him hard across the head. "You idiot!"

Mara kept on smacking and hitting until Luke physically restrained her and pinned her to the bed. The dull pain that had been coursing through her body since she had regained consciousness was now turning into a piercing throb that almost paralyzed her.

"Mara, you need to calm down. Take a deep breath."

"Luke, you can't do this." Mara said, as she tried to focus her vision on the blue-eyed man that was still hanging over her. "Don't do this for me."

Something akin to despair transpired in Mara's voice. All she could think about was that he was doing it again. He was giving up himself in order to save her just like he had almost done on Wayland. She could not let him sacrifice himself for her like that.

"Mara —" His voice was a soothing balm, as was his warm hand on her cheek, and she found herself getting lost in his eyes. "— trust me. I just need to string Palpatine along long enough to know exactly what's going on here and then we'll find a way to leave this place together. But I will not do anything to jeopardize you. Now let me explain what Palpatine has already revealed to me."

Sensing Mara's curiosity spike, Luke began relating to her what he had found out already, making sure, in the process, that his companion remained calm and also taking the opportunity to use the Force to aid in making Mara more comfortable.

First, Luke explained how, despite the loss of Grand Admiral Thrawn, Palpatine still intended on storming Coruscant and the traditional rebel worlds in order to cripple the Rebel Alliance.

"But what has he been doing for the past five years?" Mara questioned.

"He didn't tell me much about that so, I can only guess. From what I gathered, from the things we knew before and have seen and sensed here, Palpatine had been here, patiently waiting for the right time to move. I think he had at least one clone made before hand and he might even have more, considering that we know that the file that contained his genetic code was accessed lately. After Endor, he somehow transferred his essence to the clone."

"Transferred? You mean he had a flash learning program loaded into the clone." Mara interrupted.

"No, I think it was really an essence transfer. I don't think the Emperor would allow for copies of his brain patterns to be handed out to clones. I think he would go for the real thing. Plus, he knew the exact circumstances of his death and I don't think a flash learning program would include that."

"You're right." From what Mara knew of her former master, he would want to preserve _himself_ for eternity, not a copy. "So, what do we do?"

"We play along. We need to find out about the clones and details about the plans. But first we need to find out what happened to Artoo. We're going to need him to download the plans from the computer."

"Yes," Mara had to agree, "not to mention that he might be able to get around more freely than us. I don't think Palpatine will let us just snoop around this place, we are going to be watched at all times."

Luke nodded in accordance. None of them realized that Mara was no longer leaning just against the pillows, but also Luke's arm and Luke himself.

~x~ ~x~ ~x~

Two levels up within the throne room, the Emperor was engrossed in his own musings. If young Skywalker thought that he could play Darth Sidious for a fool, then he was the fool. The Sith was fully aware of the young man's sad attempts at deception, and he would play with him, tinker with his weaknesses and ultimately, turn Luke into a new Darth Vader.

And his Hand... She would serve him again and this time he would not have any qualms into making her walk the dark path. She was his and no one else's!

And if his unwilling new allies did not bend to his will, then he would make them destroy each other.

-TBC...

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** I didn't read _Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor_ yet and took my information of Wookiepedia, so I apologize if I misinterpreted anything.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six **

The next day, the Emperor summoned Luke early in the morning.

"Be careful," Mara said, as Luke finished getting ready. "Keep your shields up high and above all, keep your cool."

The previous night had been hard on both of them. Luke had given Mara the large bed to rest in while he lay down on a long chair that seemed much more comfortable than it really was. The fact that Mara hadn't argued the arrangement told Luke just how feeble the redhead was feeling. She had even allowed Luke to help her slip into a light healing trance to aid in her recovery.

But that had only been the beginning. All night, both Luke and Mara had been plagued with the most vivid dream. Luke didn't know what Mara's had been about, but his were all about her. He dreamed she came to him during the night and that they would give themselves to passion, and then, when they reached the heights of pleasure, he would reach to kiss her and found her eyes had turned bright yellow. She would then bring out a long, sharp vibroblade and stab him in the heart.

Luke would wake up then, gasping for air. He would calm himself and go back to sleep only for the dream to start again. The dream wasn't always exactly the same, but the main parts were always there: they would make love, either started by her or him, and then she would kill him, if he didn't kill her first.

Despite his dreams- or maybe because of them - Luke had to hold himself back from kissing his companion farewell before leaving. Instead, he just held her hand and said: "I will."

Mara watched Luke leave their chamber with her heart caught in her throat. She had half-a-mind to go after him and stay with him the entirety of the day, but she was still suffering from the ill effects of the Force-lightning and couldn't even stand up for five minutes without her aching muscles starting to spasm violently. That was why they had decided that she would stay behind and rest.

The problem with that plan was that it left her with far too much time to think about her dreams.

'Who ever said that healing trances didn't include dreams was obviously misconstrued.' Mara thought bitterly, as the images flashed back into her mind.

The dreams had been terrible. She had clearly seen Skywalker kneel before the Emperor and she had seen him lead the Imperial forces into battle against his friends and family. And then he had come to her and force her to be his consort in a mix of pain and pleasure.

And in the back of her mind, through it all, she could hear Palpatine's cackle.

Strolling in the dark, R2-D2 slowly made his way into the Emperor's Citadel. He had hid himself when the Imperial Royal Guards had come to get his unconscious master and redheaded counterpart and, after they were gone, had directed all his efforts to following their trail but still remain inconspicuous to all other around.

It was imperative to reunite with Master Luke.

And while the little astromech skulked around, he made a point to record all his findings and overheard conversations in order to later relay them to his master.

When he found a computer outlet, Artoo decided that the Force was on his side.

That evening, when Luke returned to his and Mara's chambers, he found her cold and distant.

"How're you feeling?" The Jedi asked, studying the woman before him. She looked better and stronger, but something was obviously bothering her.

"I'm fine. So what happened today?" She replied in an even tone.

That was what was bothering Mara, Luke thought. She was afraid of what her former master could be doing to Luke or making Luke do.

Giving her his most reassuring smile, Luke went on to give her a full account of his daily activities.

They really weren't that bad. Apparently, on their first day together, Palpatine had only taken Luke on a very extended and detailed tour of the place - a sort of this is your kingdom, get used to it. Luke had got to meet some of Palpatine's most trusted minions, including his Grand Vizier Sate Pestage, another who had been presumed dead, and another Emperor's Hand called Jeng Droga. The latter, according to Palpatine, had been the vessel that had carried Palpatine's essence to Byss within himself at great personal cost while the former had been the one who extracted the essence from Droga and transferred it to the clone.

After listening to Luke, Mara confirmed that Pestage was one of the few people that knew who she was in her imperial days and that she had known Droga as one of her trainers.

"He is introducing you to the dark side. This is merely the first step, it's meant to make you curious about the details." Mara surmised when he finished.

"Yes, I gathered that. Don't worry, Mara. I'll admit, the things he talked about were interesting but not so much as to tempt me."

"He will probably provide a demonstration next. Then your interest will spike." She warned, her voice taking on an acrid tone.

"It won't." Luke assured her.

Luke could tell Mara was truly worried about this and he made himself see the whole situation through her eyes. If this was hard on him, it was a nightmare come true to the former Emperor's Hand. Just as she had finally shaken free of his grasp, he had reached out and caught her again. And the worst part was, Palpatine had caught Luke in his devious web too.

Luke realized he needed to make sure Mara knew he was alright. He reached across the table and caught her hand in both of his and looked her straight in her bright green eyes.

"Mara – don't worry," he repeated. "He will not take me to the dark side. Not when my guiding light shines so bright." Then Luke brought her hand to his lips and kissed it gently.

Mara didn't know what to think, or rather, couldn't make her brain think of anything other than the lingering feeling of Luke's lips on her hand and the fires it had sparked in her stomach and her spine. In the moment that kiss lasted, Mara went through a myriad of feelings many of which she had never felt before. But then images of the dreams that had hassled her all night rose up to her mind and she withdrew herself from the connection.

It had all been an impulse – his statement and the kiss. But even after Mara had removed her hand, turning him into one very embarrassed farmboy, he could not bring himself to regret his action. On top of that, he caught some of the images that floated to the surface of Mara's mind and they reminded him of his own dreams.

He was about to ask Mara about the dreams when they heard a twitter at the door.

When the door opened, they were relieved to see it was Artoo.

After the greetings were over, the astromech droid started telling Luke and Mara all about his voyage to them and his findings.

Although much of what Artoo related was already known to Luke, the little droid had managed to, first, extract from the computer full schematics of the Emperor's Citadel and second, record a conversation between Lord Cronal and Pestage concerning the growth of the Emperor's clones and the need to make them more resilient to the effects of the dark side.

"Did they say _'clones'_? _'Clones'_, plural?" Mara questioned and Artoo played back that part of the conversation.

"It sounds like Palpatine is going through clones like a blaster goes through power charges." Luke commented.

"The dark side wears them down." Mara mused, thinking of the implications of that fact.

"Artoo, did you manage to find out where they keep the clones and how many there are."

The astromech whistled a negative and chittered that he had not had time yet to slice through the deeper levels of security.

"Do it, Artoo. We have to know this." Luke instructed.

Even though they had a better idea of what they were up against and how to protect themselves, that night their nightmares came back.

-TBC...


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

During the next few days, Luke continued to pretend to play the Emperor's game, but each day Palpatine demanded more commitment of him and the lines between bluff and truth started to feel hazy. Only in the evenings, when he returned to the chambers he shared with Mara and related his day to her, did he feel more like himself since Mara made sure to knock some sense into him. She was his anchor and despite the uneasiness his nightmares left him with, Luke's feelings for her grew.

Mara's dreams were also making her weary but not of Luke. These dreams were too relentless, too vivid. Mara had had nightmares before, but not like these. Actually she had had nightmares like that before - they were of Luke killing the Emperor on the Death Star. And she knew those were implanted to make her believe something that wasn't true. It stood to reason that these dreams were also a _gift_ from the Emperor. After spending a couple of days analyzing her nightmares, she confronted Luke and told him about them.

They had a lot of fun that night deconstructing their own nightmares and the many ways they killed each other in them. They did not mention, however, the more intimate parts of their dreams.

~x~

When Mara was fully recovered, she was also summoned. The Emperor knew her well and knew that she could not be allowed to remain unsupervised. He, therefore, ordered her to report to Droga and resume her training along side the Imperial Dark Side Adepts. She was not comfortable with this situation, but what else was there to do? It was better to be around others and try to pry some information out of them than to be stuck in a room alone all day worrying about what Skywalker was doing with Palpatine.

While Luke and Mara diverted the Emperor's and his lackeys' attention, Artoo kept on digging through the Citadel's computer for more on the Emperor's plans and the location of the cloning laboratory. On this last subject, the droid had already been able to ascertain that the lab was situated in the lowest sublevel of the Citadel, but was unable to narrow down the location further. The next step in this particular endeavor would have to be a midnight visit.

But there didn't seem to be an opportunity for it. Neither Luke nor Mara was ever allowed to leave their quarters without an escort. And since their quarters' entrance was now permanently guarded – undoubtedly Palpatine suspected something – not even Artoo could leave without being spotted.

~x~ ~x~ ~x~

Leia Organa Solo was pacing in her room, trying to rock her son to sleep, but the infant kept on whaling and nothing could calm him. To make matters worse, Winter was not having better luck with Jaina.

Leia was supposed to be at her office at this time, but she was too worried about her brother to concentrate on her reports, so she had decided she might as well be with her babies. Unfortunately, the infants seemed to be picking up on their mother's distress through the Force and would not calm down.

Even though Winter did not say anything, Leia could tell her adoptive sister thought she should go out and only return after she had centered herself.

After another ten minutes of listening to her children cry, Leia excused herself and left them in Winter's capable hands.

A few minutes later, she walked into the _Falcon_, where Han, Chewie and Threepio were bickering about some crossed wiring – undoubtedly Threepio's doing.

Upon noticing her, the Human, Wookiee and droid halted their argument.

"Hey, Sweetheart! What 'ya doing here at this hour?" Han asked.

"Couldn't focus on those reports so I decided they could wait."

Chewie huffed and Han had to agree with his co-pilot.

"Yeah, that's right. Leia, you work too hard. You need to take more time to yourself. For your sake _and_ for the kids."

"Yeah, but the kids just threw me out of the room."

Noticing Leia's somber mood, Han wrapped his arms around her.

"Well, you can stay here with us any time." He stated and then kissed her gently.

When they parted, Leia was feeling a lot better. That is, until Threepio interrupted the mood.

"Excuse me, Princess, but have you received any comms from Artoo?"

"No, Threepio. I haven't." Leia answered, her smile fading and her worries returning.

"Oh, but he, Master Luke and Mistress Jade have been gone for fifteen days, seven hours, thirteen minutes and nine seconds. They were supposed to have checked in by now."

"We know that, Goldenrod." Han replied testily.

"But, Captain Solo, I—"

"Threepio, could you go and help Winter with the twins?" Leia cut in before her husband flipped the protocol droid's switch again.

"Of course, Princess Leia. Could you please let me know if they do check in?" Threepio asked, just before he turned to leave.

"I will, Threepio."

After the golden protocol droid left, Han turned and kissed his wife again.

"What was that for?" She asked when they parted.

"Just a thanks."

"You're welcome. But Threepio's right, Luke and Mara should have checked in days ago."

"They probably just weren't able to. Don't worry." Han said, trying to reassure her and himself.

"That's the thing, Han. I can't stop worrying."

"You think they're in trouble?"

"Yes, I think so. I think they're trapped there with no way out and no way of communicating with us."

"Is this a twin thing or a Force thing?"

"It's both, Han."

"Well, then we only need to know two things." He smirked.

"And what is that, Flyboy?"

"Who is going to baby-sit and how can we ditch Goldenrod?"

From the cockpit, Chewie growled in approval.

~x~ ~x~ ~x~

Luke was meditating in one corner of the bedroom, making sure to use the techniques Yoda had taught him as opposed to the ones Palpatine was trying to instill on him. He could feel Mara's presence in the living room and knew she was there with Artoo going through the data the droid had extracted from the computer that day and he could feel her deep focus and determination, and also something else... even though she was concentrating on her task, Luke could sense her wish to help him get out of there safely, even more than getting herself out. There was something deeper behind that wish, something stronger, but when he reached deeper into her presence, she cringed and Luke felt like a door had just hit him in the face.

'Stay out of my head, Skywalker.' She yelled into his mind. She seemed angry with him but he didn't mind. it was not the first time she had thrown those same words at him in the last few days. He just couldn't stay away from her head and every time he got in, she let him stay a little longer.

It was almost like a game.

Luke couldn't help but think of how his connection with Mara Jade had evolved in the past few days. It was like a very strong bond was forming between them, a natural extension of the connection they had felt from the start growing increasingly stronger every time they connected.

And they connected a lot in the past few days. Every time Luke felt the Emperor getting closer to his core, he'd reach for Mara and let her snarky presence put him back in his place and every time her new training got a little too intense, Luke would give her some of his strength. This arrangement also permitted them to know instantly if one of them was in danger.

Luke liked this arrangement very much, but knew better not to push so he reached with the Force to the area outside their quarters.

By the entrance standing guard was one of the Emperor's Dark Jedi, a human male Luke that was one of Luke's usual escorts, called Kam Solusar.

Luke didn't know much about Solusar, but he could feel the man's history was a tragic one. There was so much pain in his eyes and a longing for something. But on top of it all, there was conflict and Luke knew just what to do with that.

Going beyond the physical realm, Luke dived deeper into the Force, seeking guidance and clarity. He was not looking for a vision.

~x~

_The Emperor was standing in the middle of his throne room, an evil smirk on his face. He signaled to the guards and blaster shots were fired. A woman screamed as the sound of two bodies hit the floor._

_Looking through his mind's eye, Luke turned to see the bodies. One was of an adult Wookiee and the other was of a man wearing familiar black trousers, white shirt and a vest._

_When Luke turned again to look at the woman, he already knew it was his sister._

~x~

The sound of his own scream brought Luke out of his vision and the first thing he saw upon focusing his eyes, were Mara's green eyes looking down at him.

"I felt your distress. What was it?" She asked and he felt her hand clear away tears he hadn't even realized he was shedding.

Before he answered, Luke caught her in his arms and held her tight. This time he needed more than just her Force presence to sooth him.

Mara did not shy away from him. She felt his need as if it were hers and while he cried in her arms, she caught glimpses of his vision.

When Luke settled and explained, she said:

"We need to finish this, and fast."

"But how, Mara? We are prisoners here. We can't even walk down the hall without a fully armed escort. This is all my fault. I brought you into a trap, despite your warnings and now Leia, Han and Chewie are gonna get caught in it too."

Luke was giving in to desperation and Mara saw she had to do something fast to keep his misgivings in check. They would do no good to anyone.

She smacked him for it.

"Hey, what was that for?" He demanded, now sounding offended. His blue eyes, on the other hand, had gotten their spark back.

"Snap out of it, Skywalker, or I'll snap it out of you." She threatened, raising her hand and trying to smack him again.

"Stop it, Mara!" He replied, grabbing her wrist to keep her hand from connecting with him.

"You stop it! Now focus - we need a plan, not self-pity."

Luke couldn't argue with that. Once again, Mara was helping him regain his balance, in her very unique way.

"Ok," Mara said as they got up from the floor. "Can you contact Leia through the Force?"

"I don't think so. Not without Palpatine noticing."

"ARTOO." Mara called.

When the droid showed up by the bedroom's door, she started giving instructions.

"Artoo, we need you to encrypt a message and send it to the _Falcon_. You two work out the best way to do it. Maybe something along the lines of what you did on Myrkr. Let's just hope they get it."

Luke smiled at Mara's expedite reasoning and reaction. He was feeling so much better now, he felt capable of facing anything – even Mara's anger.

Following the yearning in his heart, he reached for her hand and pulled her to him. Risking his very health, Luke caught hold of her and did something he was longing for since they first met. He cupped her head and caught her lips with his.

The kiss that followed wasn't very long and Mara didn't exactly respond, but Luke took it as a good sign that she did not push him away or even try to knock him out. And he took it as an excellent sign that she only regained movement almost a full half-minute later. Her speech took a good two other minutes to return.

-TBC...


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N:** I don't understand exactly how Luke turned Kam back to the light in canon, since there is nothing about in in the comics and Wookieepedia just mentions a game of Lightsider (which apparently is some sort of duel, and I have no idea how a duel can make anyone turned to the light), so I'm going to approach this in a very different way. I hope nobody minds.

**Chapter**** Eight**

_-__ The morning after the vision, in the Emperor's private chambers..._

"Do you know what these are, Lord Skywalker?" The Emperor asked his unwilling apprentice.

"No, Your Highness." Luke replied. He refused to call Palpatine 'Master' and really didn't appreciate being referred to as 'Lord'.

Palpatine, of course, had already noticed this. It was further proof of young Skywalker's rebellious nature. His tutoring was not going as Palpatine had planned it, since Skywalker showed far more resilience to the Dark Side than anticipated. The Emperor had tried many times to draw strong emotional reactions from his new apprentice but had little response from him and nothing that could feed the darkness. Not even mentions of his sister or Mara Jade swayed the young man. Palpatine was starting to consider that it might be worth it to sacrifice his Hand just so Skywalker would react. The Darkness knew that those implanted dreams didn't work anymore.

Skywalker was the picture of calm and that ticked Palpatine more than anything. But it was not good to lose his temper; that was not the way to woo a worthy apprentice. Palpatine remembered that it had taken years to drive Anakin down that path and Anakin had a lot more anger stored up inside.

Maybe when he was finally able to execute his plan and bring down the Rebel Alliance and the Princess and the rest of Skywalker's friends lay dead by his feet, would Luke be more willing to turn to the Dark Side.

In the meantime, Palpatine would just continue to tutor him and show him the ways of the dark side. As the old saying went _'water dropping day by day wears the hardest rock away'_.

"Come closer. These... are holocrons." Palpatine informed him, picking up one of the cube-shaped objects and handing it over to Luke. "They are used by Force-users to store great amounts of information such as journals, Force techniques, blueprints and so on. They are like quaint computers for Force-users." Palpatine chuckled at his attempt at a joke. "That one," he continued pointing at the one Luke was holding up, "is the Tedryn holocron and belonged to a Jedi of the Old Republic called Bodo Baas. I took it when I executed him."

Luke clutched the holocron a little tighter, wondering if there was a way he could hide it and take it with him without Palpatine realizing it. The thought of an artifact from the old Jedi Order being in the hands of the very person responsible for destroying it did not sit well with the Jedi.

Providentially, the lights in the chamber flickered and went out and both he and the Emperor heard the sound of an explosion in the distance. As Palpatine turned to leave, signaling Luke to follow, the Jedi took advantage of the distraction to conceal that holocron, and a few others, in a pocket of his dark-colored cloak before exiting the room.

Luke hoped that he might be able to keep Palpatine from discovering the theft long enough for him to make his, and Mara's, escape.

~x~ ~x~ ~x~

Artoo waited patiently until two hours after his Master and Mara Jade had left to report for the day's activities and then he connected with the computer terminal in their chambers and started to work on his new assigned task.

He had to send the encrypted message Master Luke had recorded the previous night, to the _Millennium Falcon_ but in order to do that he had to leave the quarters and find an outlet that didn't have any communications restrictions – the one at his disposal in the chambers did not have a connection to the Holonet, only the Citadel's net. The problem was, how would he exit the rooms without being seen by the guards at the door?

Artoo could only think of one way. He had to create a diversion that was close enough that the guards would have to check it out and far enough that they would not catch him leaving.

He sought out the level's plans and found a small power generator a few corridors away. Then, he told the computer to close the cooling conduits that served that generator. The result would be that the generator would overheat and either burst in flames or explode.

When the loud explosion happened and the lights went out – a welcomed side-effect – the guards rushed to see what had happened and Artoo was able to exit safely.

Human beings were so predictable.

And maybe now that he was out of the room, he could _really_ go find that elusive cloning lab.

~x~ ~x~ ~x~

Artoo's little sabotage turned out to be more than a nuisance to the imperials than the droid had planned for and it took a long time to put out the subsequent fire and restore the lighting to the Citadel's upper levels.

Before they could control it, the Emperor himself had to interfere, leaving Luke alone with only Solusar.

It was the perfect opportunity for the Jedi to have another chat with the Dark Jedi and try to feel out the roots of the other man's conflicting emotions.

They had spoken before. Every chance Luke got, he would probe Solusar's intentions and emotions, looking for a way in, maybe some common ground to start from.

From the start, Luke could tell that Solusar did not have any memories of his younger years, much the same way as Mara, and Luke had often fought the urge to offer his help. It didn't feel appropriate at the time.

But this time, it was Solusar who struck a conversation. He had overheard the Emperor mentioning the Jedi of the Old Republic and it had pinched him.

He asked Luke what he knew about those men and if he had ever met one.

"Yes, I did. I had two masters that were Jedi in the Old Republic – Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda." Luke answered as lightly as possible, but wondered why Kam had picked up on such a subject when he had never shown interest in any other.

"Were they fearless fighters?"

"Obi-Wan – Ben, as I called him – sacrificed himself for me." Luke felt his eyes become darker with the memory. it was still a painful memory and he wanted Kam to see that he was not indifferent to it. "As for Yoda, I never witnessed him battling, but he was a very honorable being. People I know that knew him before the Order fell, speak very highly of him."

"I have always been curious about the Jedi. I feel like I should know more about them than I do." Solusar confessed.

"Maybe once you did." Luke said and felt he had hit a mark.

Their conversation progressed for a while longer, and by the time the Emperor returned, Luke had promised the other man to do all he could to help him get his past back. He could feel that Kam's attitude was changing. There was hope for the man yet.

~x~ ~x~ ~x~

On another level, Mara was engaged in a sparring match with Droga who was pushing her once again to the very limits of her physical and mental resistance. To make it worse, this time she was hesitant to reach out to Luke for strength, the memory of their kiss a little too fresh for comfort. The kiss had awakened something inside of Mara that she had never known before and it made her long to feel it again, just not while fighting a Dark-Sider.

He slashed to her left with a lot more speed than a normal human should be capable of - a clear sign he was drawing heavily from the dark side - forcing Mara to take a few steps back in order to stay out range of both his lightsabers. When she somersaulted over his head, he used the Force to push her down. Trying to regain her balance, Mara curled her body just before impact and tumbled towards Droga's legs causing him to fall on his back.

It was in this moment that the lights went out and the training room was lit only by the colored hues of the lightsabers.

A raging cry made the former Hand turn on her heals and a second later another lightsaber came charging from a hidden entrance towards her. She shifted just as an indistinctive figure ran passed her and stuck the full-length of the lightsaber in Droga's chest, leaving an extremely baffled Mara watching.

When the emergency lights kicked in, Mara saw that the unknown figure had already disappeared.

~x~ ~x~ ~x~

When the Emperor joined Luke again, it did not take a force-sensitive to see that he wasn't a happy man. The tyrant was obviously fuming.

Luke was still struggling with his curious streak when a heavily guarded Mara Jade marched in the room. Heavily guarded both mentally and physically, since she was surrounded by a half-a-dozen imperial guards.

As Mara walked by Luke, she gave him a stay-put look that left no room for argument. He was going to find out what was going on and what Mara had to do with it; yet, he was not to do anything about it and Luke had to wonder if he would be able to do that.

"Mara Jade - Where is Droga?" Palpatine questioned in an ice-cold tone.

Mara stood very strait and forced herself not to flinch at the amount of animosity she was feeling from the Emperor. Had this been a year before, she would have collapse to her knees immediately and done anything within her power to appease her master. But not any more, now she would hold her ground and demand respect. She hoped that didn't involve getting struck by Force-lightning again, though.

Mara knew that she was in big trouble when she saw Droga dead with the mysterious lightsaber carved in his chest. So very much trouble that her survival instinct immediately kicked in and she knew she had to try and hide the _situation_. It took her a few minutes to locate a garbage compactor access door and used the Force to lift the heavy dark-sider's body into it. Then she activated the mechanism to make sure the body was destroyed.

'Time to play the part.' Mara thought to herself,

"Why would I know where Droga is? Maybe he's visiting one of your whores." She answered coolly.

The Emperor smiled wickedly and returned, stating facts: "You were scheduled to train with him, and you did train with him. I know for a fact you were with him when he took his last breath. I know this because I felt him take his last breath. So, dear child", at this point Palpatine's tone was truly biting, "what did you do with my most faithful servant?"

Mara knew when she was cornered. She could feel Luke's worry and inquiry through the Force and reinforced her previous request to him – 'Stay out of this. I can handle it.'

But still she remained calm, and she realized she could use this to her advantage by providing proof that she was walking down the dark path.

Displaying her most devious and evil smirk and making sure none of her true feelings and memories exuded through her shields, Mara spoke in a sweet voice.

"You have already answered your own question, Master."

"You killed him, did you not, my Hand?" Palpatine insisted, but his tone changed to a more pleased one.

"He stepped on my toes. Broke a nail."

Palpatine was impressed with the girl he had raised to be his Hand. Her lightsaber skills were not that great to best Droga, so the mere fact that she had succeeded in killing the expert warrior was a sure sign that she had fully given in to the dark side. It was a shame to lose such a trustworthy minion, and one that had put his life on the line so many times for Palpatine, but maybe Mara Jade would be a worthy substitute. And Mara Jade was a much more _pleasant_ vessel for his will. Maybe even for his essence.

Yes, this bargain would suit Sidious just fine.

-TBC...


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter**** Nine**

Later, when Mara and Luke returned to their chambers and once the door slid closed behind them, Mara just let herself collapse on the couch and let out a deep and loud sigh.

Luke, still somewhat shocked at Mara's earlier behavior, stood in front of her, making sure to let his astonishment show in full.

"What the hell was that?" He demanded.

Mara rolled her eyes and let out a breath, feeling very _very_ tired.

"Don't fret, Skywalker. I've had a very long day." She said, rubbing one of her temples with two fingers.

"What happened?" He insisted, now in a more pleading voice, kneeling in front of her and sitting on his legs. "Did you really kill Droga?"

"No," she answered, and Luke let out his breath in relief and waited for her to continue. He really hadn't believed Mara had killed the Dark-Sider, at least not in the way she had implied while talking to Palpatine, but he felt better to hear the word from her mouth. "But I can't tell you who did."

"You can't because you won't or because you don't know?"

"I don't know. I... it was when the lights went out. I had been sparring with Droga, trying to hold him back and we both managed to throw the other to the floor. Then lights went out and suddenly someone came blasting in, screaming and holding a yellow lightsaber, and plunged it into Droga's chest. It was so fast that when emergency lights kicked in, the being was gone. I can only tell you that I think it was a male human."

"Wow." Luke uttered, now more astonished at the situation than at Mara.

"Yeah. I did try to hide the body so I could keep his death a secret and not have it turn on me, but I didn't consider that Palpatine might have felt it."

"But you took the blame for it. You even made it sound like you enjoyed it." Luke remarked.

"Yeah. You have to understand how these people think, Skywalker. If I had told the truth, Palpatine would not have believed it and if I had tried to play victim, I would have ended up far worse than Droga. This way, Palpatine thinks I'm back on track to being his faithful servant. It's a lie, but it will work to our advantage."

"I still wish you hadn't lied."

"Don't give me that, Skywalker. A little lie is not going to be my downfall. You know, I'm pretty sure your precious Jedi told a few fibs in their day. As a matter of fact, I believe you have told a few yourself. And isn't this along the same lines of what you are doing here. "

Luke had to chortle at her jabbing, and she smiled in return suddenly aware of how his eyes lingered on her. How strange was it that his laugh and his eyes made Mara's stomach flutter.

"So, who do you think was this person? Do you think we might have met him?"

"I don't know. He didn't feel familiar to me. But I can tell you this, he did not care for Droga."

"I guess not." Luke observed drily.

At this point, Luke had already vacated his previous position and had taken a seat on the couch next to her and his arm had already found its place around her shoulders. This position now felt so natural to the two of them that neither even thought of it as inappropriate between partners... they had moved past that phase and were ready to move onto the next one.

"Do you think Artoo made it out?" Mara asked after a few minutes.

"I hope so. But we still need to find a way out of here and do as much damage as possible on our way out."

"Uh-huh!" Mara agreed and laid her head on Luke's shoulder. "So how was your day?"

"Oh," Luke practically jumped, remembering his own eventful day, "I think I might have made a friend."

"Hm? Who?"

"Kam Solusar. I think I'm really breaking through to him. He asked me about the old Jedi and said he felt somehow connected to them."

"How?"

"He doesn't remember. His whole younger years seem to have been swept out of his memory, kind of like—" Luke suddenly felt a pang in his heart, only it had not originated in his heart but in Mara's.

"Kind of like me." She finished for him.

"I can help you too, if you let me." He said, cupping her face with his hand and fighting the temptation to kiss her. This was not the time for that, they had to remain focused.

She didn't say anything, but he could feel her pondering the issue and opening herself to the possibility.

"Oh! And there was something else," Luke continued after a few moments, taking out the Tedryn holocron from his robe's pocket. "Palpatine showed me something today that used to belong to the old Jedi. They used it to store large amounts of data. It's called a holocron."

Mara took it from him and turned it in her hand. Then she held it up in front of her and traced one of the symbols with her fingertip.

It was then that the holocron came to life and a holographic image of a being from an unknown species to them appeared above the holocron. Mara set it down on the table and stared at it, along with Luke, completely agape.

"Jedi... Hear the words of Bodo Baas. Ask and I will answer."

As per usual, Mara was the first to regain her speech.

"Who are you?"

"I am Bodo Baas, Master of the Jedi Order, young Padawan. I am the gatekeeper of this holocron."

"Are you real?" Mara asked again.

"I am a holographic simulation of the holocron's previous owner and I am here to guide you through the knowledge of all it contains."

"All of your knowledge?" Luke questioned.

"The knowledge you are allowed to access is not the same as the knowledge your padawan is allowed, of course."

"What's a padawan?" Mara interrupted before Luke could ask his next question.

The holographic image turned its eyes at her and she could swear it looked puzzled.

"_You_ are a padawan, an apprentice."

"Oh, no, I'm—"

Luke put his hand on Mara's arm, keeping her from continuing her argument. This was not the time to debate her status. "Can I access all your information?"

"Not yet, but you will soon, provided you remain true. You already can access much more than your predecessor."

"My predecessor?"

"The Sith." The image clarified.

"He means Palpatine." Mara whispered to Luke and he nodded.

Luke took out the other holocrons he had taken and held them out to the image.

"Do you know these?" He asked.

"Those three are Sith holocrons and should be destroyed." Bodo Baas said, pointing to the pyramidal objects. "The others are Jedi holocrons, but I do not know whose."

"So they're not friends of yours?" Mara asked snarkily.

"You are a feisty one. You must learn respect before addressing me, Padawan."

"She doesn't mean anything by it, Master Baas. Mara is naturally _charming_." Luke tried to remain serious, but was laughing on the inside.

"Skywalker—" Mara was about to snap at him but was interrupted by Baas.

"You are the one born to walk the skies? Do you have a sister?"

"I do have a sister and my name is Luke Skywalker. Why do you ask?" Luke inquired suspiciously.

"There was a prophecy, made by my master a thousand years ago." Baas said and then stopped to study Luke. "But it seems it no longer applies."

"What was it?" Luke asked, concerned.

"Do not concern yourself with what-ifs, young Jedi; life is complicated as it is. If you do not stray from the path you're on right now, you have nothing to worry about."

"But—"

"No buts, young Skywalker. We will continue this another day."

With that, Bodo Baas bit his farewell.

"Well, that was weird." Mara commented when the holographic image disappeared.

"Yeah. What do you think it was about?" Luke's thoughts remained directed at the contents of the unknown prophecy.

"I don't know, Skywalker." Mara answered and leaned back into the couch as Luke put his arm around her shoulders once again.

Minutes went by in silence as both companions relished in each other's presence.

A little later, their quarters' computer station chittered and Luke, followed by Mara, went to check it out. It was an encrypted message that could not be opened without the proper code. Remembering the protocol he had established with Artoo, Luke connected his datapad and ran the code. The message appeared clearly on the datapad's screen while the encrypted message continued to scroll in the computer screen. It was a failsafe to keep anyone else from reading the message.

'MESSAGE SENT. CLONING LAB LOCATED, WILL LAY LOW UNTIL YOU COME – SUBLEVEL 27 – 3RD WING. EIGHT OTHER CLONES PRESENT IN STASIS. BRING EXPLOSIVES.'

'Do you have confirmation that the message was received?' Luke typed in.

'I DO NOT. SORRY.'

Luke's heart tightened with worry for his family. He felt Mara next to him, placing a supporting hand on his shoulder and saying:

"All we have to do is take care of it before they get here. We can do this."

Luke gave her a weak smile, only slightly reassured with her words.

~x~

Parsecs away, the _Millennium Falcon_ was already halfway into the Deep Core.

-TBC...


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

The next morning passed in a haze for Luke and Mara. For the first time since their arrival on Byss they were not mandated to report to the Emperor or anyone else, spending their day being watched solely by members of the Dark Elite.

They could feel the whirls in the Force and knew that something was going on – someone was drawing strongly on the Dark Side, sucking the energy from every living person on the planet. The non-Force-sensitive servants just dragged themselves around the place, practically begging to not be noticed, so that they could just concentrate on breathing in and out and placing one foot in front of the other; they hadn't the energy for anything more. Even the Force-users were drained, some more than others, but still drained.

Only when the guards changed did they find out what was going on, and that was because their new guard was Kam Solusar.

"It is the Emperor," Solusar began explaining when Luke asked. "Droga's loss took a heavy toll on him and his body didn't take the pressure. He is changing bodies as we speak."

"Are Pestage and Cronal there too?" Luke asked.

"They are, and so are most of the guards. The Grand Vizier oversees the whole operation and Cronal uses his own connection to the Dark Side to ease the transfer of Palpatine's essence to the new body by magnifying the power involved."

"How long does this take?" Luke queried.

"Not long. They're probably done by now."

"What happens after he changes bodies?" Mara asked, a suspicion dawning on her.

"What do you mean?" Solusar replied.

"I mean if he's ready to go, or is he in a weakened state by the transfer."

"That usually depends on how he was before. Considering how feeble he looked this morning, I say it might take him the whole day to recover."

Luke and Mara looked at each other, silently communicating that they were thinking the same thing.

It was time to act. The only question remained if they could trust Kam with their plan.

Before Luke could probe the Dark-Sider for his intentions, Mara decided to test him in her own way and get some information about the other matter that troubled her.

"Do you know who killed Droga?"

"From what I heard, you did." Solusar answered, surprised by her question.

"What if I told you it wasn't me?" Mara insisted, fully grasping the other man's surprise.

"Are you telling me it wasn't you?" He countered, wondering where this was going.

"I'm telling you one of you guys killed Droga and left me to take the fall."

Mara could feel Kam's Force presence pushing on her, trying to ascertain if she was telling the truth or trying to play him. She could also tell that he was pondering the implications of her affirmation but not in a way that implied he was looking for gain, as she would expect an imperial servant to do, but in a way that implied he was interested in seeking the truth. This was a good sign.

"Please, explain." He asked, scratching his chin.

While Mara retold the past day's events, Luke made sure to study the other man thoroughly, his every blink and his every nod, and compare them with what he was getting through the Force. What the Jedi concluded was that Kam Solusar was displaying truthfulness and interest, and that he was willing to trust Mara's story. This was a very good sign.

When Mara finished, Kam was silent for a while, pondering her story.

"That does not sound like the actions of a member of the Emperor's trusted ones," he said, "but one person does come to mind, although he was presumed dead."

"What do you mean?" Luke inquired.

"A few months ago, the Elite brought in a new recruit - a human male from Dantooine, very strong in the Force, named Daril Thoms. Droga was to train him."

"You mean, break him." Mara cut in, her stomach twitching at the thought of Droga's training.

"Yes," Kam admitted, with embarrassment. "After a few weeks, he escaped. We hunted him until he was cornered in Cronal's lab. There was an explosion and we assumed he had died, but we never found remains."

"What is the Force telling you?" Luke asked, taking that teacher's stance that came so naturally to him.

Solusar sought the Force for an answer. "The Force tells me that it is him."

"We have to find him." Luke stated and Mara agreed.

Taking full advantage of their temporary freedom, Luke and Mara, accompanied by a redeemed Kam, started their search of the Citadel for the rogue trainee. They hoped that this search would not prove to hinder their other purpose of destroying the cloning lab and stopping Palpatine from rising again, but since it was likely that Thoms was hiding in the sublevels, it seemed that their objectives would intersect anyway.

Before making their way to the sublevels, however, Luke thought it best to contact Artoo and see if the droid had any information for them regarding the Emperor or the rogue trainee. Since they had swung by his quarters to pick up some things that they might need, he commed Artoo right from his living-room's station. It took almost a minute before a response was displayed on the datapad.

'ARTOO HERE.'

'Artoo, what's going on down there? Are you alright?' Luke typed.

'I HAVE CONCEALED MYSELF AND AM IN NO DANGER. THE EMPEROR AND HIS MEATBAGS ARE HERE. BE CAUTIOUS IF YOU ARE COMING.'

It never ceased to amaze Luke how Artoo's tone could take on such a paternal ring to it.

'We're moving to the sublevels now, but we need to look for someone first. Have you found any trace of someone hiding down there?'

'THE COMPUTER DOES NOT HAVE ANY SUCH INFORMATION SO THE ONE YOU ARE SEEKING IS PROBABLY HIDING IN THE BLACKED-OUT AREAS OF THE COMPOUND.'

'Any ideas where we could start looking?'

'THE BLACKED-OUT AREA THAT IS CLOSEST TO YOUR PRESENT POSITION IS THE EAST WING OF SUBLEVEL 3, BUT I NOTICED SOME DISTURBANCES IN THE LOGICAL LAYOUT OF THE SOUTH AREA OF SUBLEVEL 10 THAT MIGHT INDICATE A POSSIBLE HIDEOUT, EVEN THOUGH THERE WERE NO DETECTABLE LIFE SIGNS THERE AT THE TIME.'

'Alright, thank you Artoo. Skywalker out.'

"Artoo suggests we search the south side of sublevel 10." Luke informed the others. "He also says that Palpatine and his guys are still in the cloning lab."

"We should get moving before they remember us." Mara pointed out and then turned to Kam. "Known any good ways of getting to sublevel 10?"

"Yes, I do."

It took the threesome over two hours to reach sublevel 10, but once they got there they immediately sensed a presence. They were definitely in the right place.

After searching for a while and concentrating on the lingering feeling that they were being watched, but that their host was not willing to make an appearance.

"Well, what did you expect?" Mara remarked. "This guy sees us - a Dark Jedi, an Emperor's Hand and Palpatine's new junior Darth – he thinks we've come to get him back."

"We need to convince him that we're here to help him, then." Luke stated vehemently. He knew Mara was right, but wasn't willing to give up yet. "We need to show him our true intentions."

Feeling in the Force that they could not afford to waste time or separate, Luke made one final attempt to make Thoms reveal himself. Should he not, they would be forced to move on.

He reached deep into the Force and did the opposite of what the Emperor had tried to teach him - he lowered his shields and poured all the light in his heart into the Force allowing it to shine on all three of them. His mind was wide open for all those in the vicinity to see. It was a leap of faith and a vote of trust, and it was the only way Luke could think of to truly reveal himself as a friend.

Kam watched as the Jedi before him stripped down his shields and let all this light shine through his battered soul, and he knew beyond the shadow of a doubt, that he had made the right choice by stepping out of the dark and following him to the light.

Standing in front of Luke, Mara saw him like she had never before. She saw the love he held for his friends and family, his misgivings about what his father had been and the sorrow of knowing so little about the hows and whys of his life, and deep down, in the most cherished corner of Luke's heart, she saw herself and the seed of an everlasting feeling that had taken roots there and began to grow. And then she knew that Luke Skywalker loved her so very deeply that her mere presence and support had been enough to keep the Emperor's influence at bay.

She took his hand and placing it on her chest, she gave him her heart in return and joined her soul to his. Whatever she had to offer, she would gladly give.

Accepting Mara's offer wholeheartedly, Luke took her into his arms and allowed the happiness he was feeling to shine even more.

They only parted when footsteps were heard behind them and the sound of a falling lightsaber hitting the floor resounded throughout the room.

Standing before them was a thirty-something human male dressed in old ragged clothes. His dark eyes shone with tears and his limbs trembled when he asked:

"Help me."

Seventeen levels down, Emperor Palpatine, in his new clone body, felt the wave of light flow around him and knew that his unwilling pupil was up to something.

He ordered his guards to find him and bring him to his presence by any means necessary.

-TBC...


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven**

"Help me, please." Daril Thoms muttered almost inaudibly to the other three people in the room. He had seen them coming, of, course, and had watched them as they sought him out. He had recognized them too.

Thoms knew that the woman was a former imperial that the Emperor wanted back, that the taller male was one of the Dark Side Elite and that the shorter male, the one that shone so brightly, was the Emperor's new apprentice. Although how a Sith apprentice could appear to be so immersed in the Light was beyond him.

And it had been that light that had brought Thoms out. He was completely drawn to in and wanted it to feel it in him too. He was so very tired of fighting the darkness.

"I am Luke Skywalker." The shorter man introduced himself, presenting his hand in greeting.

'Skywalker'. The name registered in Thoms' head, bringing back old memories - good ones as well as one very bad one. He held on to the good ones, for the other brought him much anger.

Instead of accepting Skywalker's hand, Thoms asked: "I'm Daril Thoms. Are you related to Anakin Skywalker?"

"Yes," Skywalker answered eagerly. "He was my father. Did you know him?"

"Yes -" Thoms answered hesitantly. What in the name of the Force was Anakin Skywalker's son doing there? Thoms was about to ask when the woman cut in.

"Nice to make your acquaintance, Mr. Toms, but we can't stay and chat. We have a work to do."

The woman was obviously having doubts as to whether or not to trust Thoms, but the light still shone on her and Thoms wanted to join them. The Force was telling him to join them.

"Where are you going?" He asked.

The shorter man - Anakin's son - looked straight at him and evaluated him; they were obviously going on a vital mission.

"We have to get to the Emperor's cloning lab without being seen," Skywalker said, deciding to trust Thoms.

"Why do you want to go there?"

"We intend to keep Palpatine from rising again." Skywalker stated calmly "Will you help us?"

"Yes." Thoms replied with conviction.

~x~

Luke couldn't believe what had just happened.

First Mara had accepted him fully and had joined with him in the Force. He could still feel her presence mingled with his in the back of his mind, in a place that would forever be his Mara place.

Then, the mystery man had come to them and accepted their help and offering his, and more, he had known Luke's father.

Luke wondered how well Thoms had known Anakin. He had sensed the other man's misgivings about Anakin Skywalker and wondered if the other man was aware that he had become Vader.

Despite the urgency of their current situation, Luke had to know. He altered his stride as to position himself alongside Thoms and decided to ask again.

"How did you know my father?"

"I knew him from the Temple," Thoms started in a deep reminiscing tone, "I was a youngling and he was my hero. My deepest wish at the time was that he would take me as his padawan when I reached the proper age. I even tried to make friends with Artoo."

"Artoo?" Luke interrupted, his curiosity now mixed with shock. Could it be?

"Skywalker's astromech droid." Thoms explained, not understanding Luke's reaction.

"As in Artoo-Detoo? A white and blue R2 unit?" Luke insisted.

"Yes." Thoms confirmed. The look of shocked surprise on Luke's face was almost enough to make him laugh. Why Skywalker's son would show such surprise about the identity of Skywalker's astromech was beyond him. "He was a very... _unique_ little droid. I often wonder what happened to him?"

"You won't have to wonder for very long." Mara commented under her breath. She was following the exchange with only half-disguised interest and was finding it very intriguing and amusing. If the circumstances were different, she would have pushed for more details.

Luke, however, seemed to have forgotten about the circumstances. There was a little droid, seventeen levels below them, that had a lot of explaining to do.

"Daril, when did you see them last?" Luke asked.

"I don't remember the last time I saw Artoo, he wasn't with Skywalker when I saw him last." He replied, his face turning very somber.

Luke immediately knew that this memory was the source of great pain to the other man, but he had to know.

"When was that?"

"It was when the attack on the Temple took place."

Luke knew very little about the events leading to the downfall of the Jedi Order, but he had heard from some of the older members of the Alliance and from Chewie that there had been an attack on the Jedi Temple on Coruscant which resulted in the deaths of the children there. It had been the start of Order 66 and the extermination of the Jedi. He had wondered if any of the children had survived. Now he wondered if the attack on the Temple had been what led Anakin to the Dark Side.

"Anakin was defending the Temple?"

Thoms stopped and stared at Luke in disbelief. How could Skywalker's son not know about this? And how could Thoms tell him the truth? But Luke had to know.

"Anakin was the one that attacked the Temple and killed everyone."

Horror struck Luke as violently as the Emperor's Force-lightning and his legs would have given out if Mara hadn't supported him. He already knew that his father, Vader that is, had been the one to hunt down and slay the Jedi, but _children_... His father had murdered _children_.

"You didn't know. I'm sorry." Daril Thoms said, but Luke hardly heard him.

~x~ ~x~ ~x~

Behind Beshqek, the blue star that shone on Byss, the _Millennium Falcon_ skulked while its crew decided on the best course of action. They had just decrypted a message from Luke and learned that the Emperor was indeed back. Even though Luke had blatantly told them to stay away, nobody aboard the _Falcon_ was willing to turn around and leave.

Suddenly, Leia started shaking and tears ran down her cheeks. Within a second, Han was next to her, holding her hands.

"It's Luke," she tried to explain.

"Is he hurt?" Han asked, worried.

"Yes, but not physically. I can't say anything else except that he is hurting badly."

"Was it the Emperor?"

"No. He is not in danger, but it feels like the floor was stripped from under his feet."

Getting up again, Han strode into the cockpit and told Chewie it was time to get moving. He was not about to let his brother face whatever he was facing down there alone.

"He's not alone." Leia's voice sounded from the doorway, now calmer. "He's got Mara."

~x~ ~x~ ~x~

Luke felt like he was sinking and then he felt her. Mara was reaching for him in the Force, her hands holding his between their chests, creating a bridge between their hearts.

"He was redeemed in the end, Luke." Her voice sounded in his head. "Whatever he did, he was under Palpatine's influence and you broke him free, just like you broke me."

She let go of his hands, caught his face with her hands and made him rest his forehead against hers, whispering:

"Don't give in, Luke. We have a job to do. The only way we can do right by the man Anakin was before he fell and all the children and Jedi Vader killed is to make sure Palpatine doesn't win this. We need to deal with him now without falling into his trap. Can you do this?"

"Yes. Yes, I can."

"Good. Take a deep breath and let your anger and your sorrow fade away."

"I'm ready." Luke stated a few moments later.

"Good, let's go." Mara replied.

But before they took their first steps, Luke halted and frowned.

"Leia's close." Now he knew that there was not more time to waste - they had to do this now.

He turned and led the others down the upcoming flight of stairs.

-TBC...


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve**

A couple of hours after Thoms' revelations, Luke, Mara, Kam Solusar and Daril Thoms managed to sneak into sublevel 27. It would have been a faster trek, if not for the several dozen armed guard groups they encountered along the way. It was obvious that they were being hunted and only Mara's extensive stealth training got them through safely.

Upon their arrival, they rendezvoused with Artoo who was hiding in a dark corner of the lab's antechamber.

"That's him!" Daril told them as soon as Artoo joined the party. "That's Skywalker's droid."

Artoo twittered something that sounded just like 'Who, me?'

"Guys," Mara called in a low voice, "keep it down. There are guards there."

"Yeah." Luke agreed, but turned to the droid nevertheless. "Artoo, when we get out of here, you and I are going to have a very serious talk about all the things you haven't told me. Got it?"

Artoo's melodic sigh spoke volumes.

"Alright, we have to get rid of the guards before they sound the alarm." Mara stated and Luke had a flashback of them when they had gone to the _Chimaera_ to rescue Mara's boss. Her techniques of disposing of guards, at the time, were a little more _permanent_ than Luke would have liked.

"I know them, I'll handle them." Kam said from behind Luke.

For a brief moment, Luke wondered if it was a good idea to let Solusar take care of this situation and whether it would push towards the light or the dark. The Jedi was pleased to see the other man approach the two guards and relay to them a false order, accentuated by the Force to make it more persuasive. It was what he would have done and the fact that the order had been given by someone the guards already knew and thought to be an ally carried even more weight than the Force suggestion. Yes, Luke had done right by the Force in reaching out to Kam.

After the guards left, convinced that Solusar was to take their place, Luke and company were quick to enter the lab and begin surveying the place.

What they found was a medium-sized rectangular room, filled with all sorts of apparatus intended to conduct the cloning experiments. In the center of the room, two high cots were placed side by side and along the back wall, a dozen Spaarti cylinders stood, one empty and the others containing naked male bodies in several degrees of development; the one furthest to the left still in what could be considered late infancy.

They would all have to die. Luke let that thought roll around in his head for a moment while the others busied themselves with more practical matters. He thought for a moment about what would happen if they awoke the clones and took them away, giving them a chance to live their lives, after all, these beings inside the cylinders had never hurt anyone. So should they be condemned for something their genetic source had done? Maybe, at least, the younger ones could be redeemed if raised properly. After hearing about murdered children, by his own father nonetheless, he really wasn't looking forward to harming a child.

"No, Luke." Mara's voice sounded from behind him, as her hand came to rest on his shoulder. "They're in vegetative state." She had just been through the developmental routines in the computer and noticed that no knowledge or behavior was being fed into the clones.

Artoo twittered his agreement and the translation showed in a nearby monitor: 'THEY ARE LIKE A DROID WITHOUT A CENTRAL PROCESSING UNIT. SPARE PARTS.'

Luke nodded and then started looking for a way to destroy the entire lab.

~x~ ~x~ ~x~

Approaching Byss undetected proved to be an impossible task for the _Millennium Falcon_ and just as they came out from behind the Byss sun, they were caught by a tractor beam that came from this unfinished strange-looking tube-shaped space station, that led them right to the planet's surface.

Almost thirty minutes later, the _Falcon_ set down on one of the planet's outdoor hangars right next to the Citadel, and its crew was greeted by a smirking Pestage.

"Well, well, well, what have we here?" The Grand Vizier queried. "I believe someone will be very happy to see you."

"Why you little -" Han began, but was held back by a whole squad of imperial guards.

Disarmed and bound in stun cuffs, the Solos and Chewbacca, followed by the faithful Threepio, had no choice but to go along quietly.

Fifteen minutes later, they were standing face-to-face with the Reborn Emperor in his throne room.

~x~ ~x~ ~x~

By the time their friends were brought before the Emperor, Luke and the others had managed to rig thermal detonators - they had picked them out en route, from an armory closet - to each cylinder and timed them to detonate within the hour. Luke had also instructed Artoo to insert a virus into the computer that would erase all the information stored there - whether it be the cloning project, the superweapons schematics or any other piece of research it might contain, it was all to be obliterated.

After double-checking everything and making sure the detonators were well concealed, the group exited the lab and prepared to make their escape when Luke halted in midstride.

"Leia." He muttered when the sense of his twin's anxiety hit him. "They're here," he told the others, "Leia, Han and Chewie are standing before the Emperor right now. We're too late."

"We're not too late." Mara stepped up, trying to sound reassuring. She knew that Leia wasn't in pain or overly distraught from the way Luke was behaving and that meant they hadn't been hurt yet, so they weren't too late.

Luke turned to her looking for support and trying to reel in his feeling. "I have to go there," he stated.

"I know," Mara replied, "and I'll go with you."

He wanted to tell her not to come and to take advantage of the diversion to escape unscathed, but knew it would be no use. Mara had always been there in the past weeks, helping him through this stretch of time, she would not leave when he needed her the most.

He took her help when he took her hand in his and kissed it.

Then, Luke turned to the other two men in the group.

"We have to face the Emperor before leaving, he's got my family up there and I cannot leave them behind. You two should take the opportunity and make your escape."

"No, Skywalker. I'll stand with you and face the Emperor." Solusar spoke first.

"And so will I. You'll need our help to rescue your family from all those Dark-Siders up there." Thoms concurred and a chitter from Artoo sealed the pledge

Thankful beyond what words could express, Luke led them up to the Emperor's throne room as swiftly as possible. He knew everything rested on the upcoming fight.

~x~ ~x~ ~x~

_- In the throne room..._

"Welcome, Princess." The Emperor spoke in fake reverence. "Have you come to join your brother at my side?"

"My brother will never join you and neither will I." Leia replied defiantly. Even though she knew beforehand that the Emperor lives, thanks to Luke's message, she was still shocked out of her mind to see him up close and personal. He was indeed a terrifying being.

She looked around the room, feeling it with the Force and knew that there were several guards stationed in its dark corners. It would be foolish to try anything against the Emperor under the present circumstances, so she signaled Han and Chewie to stay put. Whether they would or not remained to be seen.

Wondering where Luke was and if there was any truth to Palpatine's claim, Leia reached out to him through their twin bond and found him in the building but far enough away that it would take him a while to come in. She immediately regretted reaching out to her brother because of the sense of sudden panic she felt from him. Now he knew where she was, with whom and in just how much trouble she was in.

All Leia could do to help Luke now was to stall Palpatine enough so that her twin could make his appearance on his own terms and not the Emperor's.

-TBC...


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen**

Han Solo couldn't believe the twist of events he had just taken part in.

He had charged in on his beloved _Falcon_, ready to rescue the Kid from yet another life threatening situation, only to have been captured. He still couldn't believe it, he was so sure he could outrun anything the Empire threw at him. And the worse part was that Leia and Chewie, and even Goldenrod, had been captured right along with him. At least Leia's two Noghri bodyguards had managed to hide in one of the _Falcon's_ hidden cargo holds and thus elude capture. Although Han had no idea just how that would help anyone but the Noghri.

But now, there he was, standing right in front of the Emperor... or one of his clones. Seriously, why didn't that guy just stay dead. Or even all those other guys? Pestage was supposed to be dead and so was Cronal, and yet, here they were, smirking at him. What was this place supposed to be - the Dead Villain Society - and who was gonna show up next - Boba Fett.

As far as Han was concerned, the dead should stay dead - at least the evil ones, the nice ones could come back. But then again, Han had never met a nice guy that came back from the dead.

Han tried to hide a cringe as he watched the Clone of Palpatine approach his wife.

Leia was behaving as coolly as Han had ever seen her. Not that Han could see her face since she was standing in front of them, but she really was the utter politician. He had caught her earlier signal, the one that specifically said _hold it_ and knew she was expecting something to happen and she was now obviously stalling for time. Maybe Luke would come barging in with an army at his back and take out the entire Dead Villain Society.

Where the hell _was_ that kid anyway?

He looked surreptitiously to his right side and saw Chewbacca, also trying very hard to keep his composure. Chewie was standing stiff and still, ready to make a move at a single second's notice, but only someone as familiar with the species would be able to tell. The usually hotheaded Wookiee had obviously caught Leia's signal too.

Threepio was another matter. The protocol droid was standing on Han's left, fidgeting endlessly. Seriously, why did they bring that droid? He would have been much better off staying on Coruscant and helping with the twins but, at the last minute, he had come too to, as he put it, _'make sure Artoo keeps out of trouble'_. Now he was stuck there with the rest of them; one more head to be concerned about.

Han called his attention back to Leia and Palpatine when he came even closer and whispered something to her.

Whatever that was - Han couldn't hear - it made Leia's cool demeanor shatter and she tried to strike at the Sith, despite her cuffed hands. Her reaction, of course, caused Chewie to also begin roaring and struggling against his own cuffs, activating the stun charges which caused the gigantic Wookiee to fall to his knees and hit the ground unconscious.

Han, himself, had also taken steps towards Leia, attempting to protect his wife from whatever hazards might present themselves, but also to no avail; he also had his own cuffs activated by the guards. The last thing he saw before everything went black was Palpatine securing Leia with both hands, forcing her to kneel before him.

~x~ ~x~ ~x~

While making his way to the top level of the Citadel, Luke didn't stop for anything.

He could feel the urgency rising in Leia's Force-presence through their twin bond and knew he had to hurry. Taking the same path he had used before, he leapt through flights of stairs and just slashed through any opposition that stood in his way. He knew Mara was just behind him and both Kam and Daril were close behind her, each of them taking care of whatever obstacles stood in their paths. He was also aware that they had lost Artoo several levels below, but knew the resourceful little droid would rejoin them quickly enough.

Just as he got to the ground level, he noticed two short bulky forms concealed in shadows. As soon as they recognized him, they revealed themselves.

"Ekhrikhor, Mobvekhar." He acknowledged them, recognizing two of his sister's Noghri bodyguards.

After a slight bow, the bodyguards joined the group and ran up towards the top level and the throne room.

When they finally reached the top level, and just before entering the throne room's antechamber, Luke halted the group and reaching with the Force, he scanned the adjoined rooms. There were close to three dozen guards in and around the throne room and at least eight of them were Dark Elite; two of those were inside the throne room along with at least ten other non-Force-sensitive guards.

The almost two dozen guards outside were obviously on-edge, their senses in full alert, there was no getting passed them undetected.

"We need a diversion." Mara said in such a low voice, that Luke heard her more through the Force than through his ears.

"Stand by." He nodded and said. "It's coming."

A few seconds later a ding was heard from across the room and a turbolift open its doors. All guards diverted their attention, and weapons, towards it but found only a white and blue astromech droid rolling out.

While the guards were distracted and before they could blast poor Artoo, each member of the group, as if in accord, had already taken out two guards, clearing a corridor that allowed Luke and Mara to reach the throne room's entrance without trouble and leaving Kam, Daril and the Noghri to take care of the remaining guards.

~x~

When Luke opened the throne room's door with a Force push, he found Han and Chewie lying on the floor and Leia being subdued by the Emperor.

"STOP!" The young Jedi shouted, using the Force to enhance his scream in such a way that it rocked the walls and cracked the transparisteel windows.

"Look who has come to join us." Sidious sibilated, letting go of Leia who fell on her knees breathing heavily. "We have been expecting you, Lord Skywalker."

"Leave her alone." Luke demanded, examining his sister's Force presence - Leia was weary but otherwise unharmed. As for Han and Chewie, they were alive, but had been stunned and would take a while longer to awake. Threepio, Luke noticed from the corner of his eye, was standing to the far right, screeching his usual expressions of panic.

As soon as the Emperor increased the distance between himself and Leia, the protocol droid rushed to her side to help her up.

"You will leave them all alone." Luke continued, putting all his strength behind his words. He knew that it would have no effect on the Sith but it would show him he meant it.

Luke allowed himself to smirk inwardly when he noticed that all the guards in the room cringed and took a step back as a result of his words. Then he felt a small mental tug from Mara, reminding him to not let it get to his head. She was standing behind him, keeping an eye on their surroundings and on his back.

"So, the little boy thinks he can take on the master." Sidious oozed. "It is time to teach you a lesson, young Skywalker." As he said those words, all the guards in the room started closing in on Luke and Mara and they ignited their lightsabers and braced themselves for a fight.

It wasn't long before Leia joined in the fight as well, making full use of the sparring lessons her brother had insisted she'd take with him.

But still, they were three against a dozen and had to protect Han's and Chewie's unconscious forms from slashing lightsabers and blaster bolts, not to mention that both the Emperor and Cronal seemed to be having a lot of fun throwing obstacles into the mix, so things weren't looking very promising for them.

At least until one of the Noghri joined in to lend a hand while Kam, Daril and the second Noghri finished off the guards in the antechamber.

Then, the stealthy Noghri, Mobvekhar, snuck up on Cronal from behind and stabbed the Dark-Sider through the ribs and in the heart. He was dead before he knew it.

When he felt the passing of his long-time ally, Sidious struck Mobvekhar with a half-charge of Force-lightning, intended in letting the Noghri feel the power of the Dark Side before one final blow. Perhaps because he had all his attentions centered on the Noghri or because he was still weakened for having taken a new body that same morning, Palpatine failed to sense danger when Leia threw her lightsaber towards him, literally slicing him in half.

It was at that same moment that an explosion rocked the foundations of the Citadel and Luke knew that the clones had been destroyed.

Cronal's death and the strike at the Emperor left the remainder of the guards in a state of complete confusion and it was apparent that they had been under the control of the two Dark-Siders. Their clumsy attacks were quickly countered by Luke, Mara and Leia, and soon enough the skirmish was over. On the Empire's side, only Sate Pestage was left standing.

As soon as she found herself without a foe to fight, Leia rushed to her husband's side and kissed him until he came to.

A little further away, Chewbacca was also regaining his senses just in time to see Pestage reach for a concealed weapon and point it to Han and Leia. Within a slit second, the Wookiee leaped towards the Grand Vizier and literally ripped him apart.

"I always thought you were joking about that." An astounded Leia told her husband, referring to the Wookiee's violent behavior.

"Yeah, no I wasn't." He replied before resuming their previous kiss.

While Ekhrikhor checked on Mobvekhar and Kam and Daril helped Han and Chewie regain their balance, Luke and Mara were called to the Emperor's sliced body by a stir of the dark side.

As they approached the body, they saw that it was still breathing and drawing from the dark side great amounts of energy.

Luke only realized what was about to happen when, beside him, Mara screamed in agony, clasping her head between her hands and falling to her knees.

-TBC...


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen**

When the lightsaber slashed through his body, Darth Sidious knew he had only one option left. He had to reach out to another one of his clones and transfer his essence to it. Taking over a clone's body was easy considering the subject did not have a will and therefore didn't fight him off - that was why he had them made; it was a brilliant solution to mortality. The fact that he had already performed a transfer once that day and was still far from recovered could not hinder his resolve. It was either that or surrender himself to Chaos.

But just as he started collecting his power and his essence, an explosion rattled the foundations for the Citadel and the Force threads that connected him to his other bodies were severed, and Sidious knew he had to find another alternative, one much more uncooperative.

When she came into his field of view, he immediately chose her as his next recipient. Despite the fact that her loyalties had changed, she had grown up welcoming his presence in her mind. They had a bond and, even if she fought him off, he would subdue her. The pathways he had carved in her brain would welcome him. She was _his_ Hand.

When he looked her in the eyes, the transfer began.

~x~

As soon as she looked into her former master's eyes, Mara felt a tightening inside her head. It felt like her brain was being squashed by an unknown force, like her brain cells were imploding one by one.

A thundering voice resounded in her head - _his_ voice - clamming her for himself.

"NOOOOOOO!" She heard herself scream as her surroundings drowned in darkness.

~x~

Luke caught Mara just as she was collapsing. He could feel the Emperor's essence weighing heavily on her, trying to destroy her very being. He could not allow that to happen.

He sensed Leia behind him, coming to see what was going on, along with Han, Chewie and the others and he wasted no time. He used their own presences as an anchor and reached into Mara's soul, grabbing her tightly against his own.

Inside Mara the battle raged on. The Emperor wanted her for himself and cared not if he destroyed her in the process. Mara fought him with all she had, but her past bond with the Sith worked against her, and Luke...

Luke wanted to drive the Emperor out so badly, that he himself was starting to draw from the dark side. He was about to strike a powerful blow at the Emperor when he realized that Mara would not survive the attack. He might drive Sidious out, but the Sith would drag Mara down with him.

There was only one thing Luke could do. He would have to let Mara do the fighting and just feed his power to her through the bond they had formed in the last few days, and he would have to hope that their bond would be stronger than the one she had with the Emperor. So Luke filled their connection with all his love for her, anchoring her just like his family and friends anchored him.

He felt Mara draw from their bond and his love, and with one last push, he felt her expel the Emperor from her body and throw him into the depths of Chaos.

The Emperor, Darth Sidious, was no more.

A few moments later, when Mara opened her eyes, she found herself firmly enclosed in Luke's arms. Feeling her stir, he loosed his grip and looked into her bright green eyes. She had fought her past and won.

He smiled at her and watched as she smiled in return. The others were kneeling around them, but Mara only had eyes for Luke.

"Hi there." She murmured, looking deep into his blue eyes.

"Hi yourself," he replied as he brought one hand to caress her face, relief flowing freely through him. "Are you okay?"

"My head hurts, but I'm okay." She said and started struggling to get up.

Luke promptly helped her, but didn't let go of her.

Mara looked around, noticing the mess the throne room was in.

"He's gone," she affirmed.

"Yes, he is." Luke answered, still holding on to her hand. "You did it."

"_We_ did it." She corrected him.

"Excuse me, Master Luke," Threepio interrupted, "but Artoo says that the virus he downloaded into the system has triggered a self-destruct mechanism that will cause this whole place to explode in eleven minutes and thirty-four seconds."

"Well, why didn't you say so earlier, Goldenrod?" Han demanded in his usually impatient tone.

"I tried, sir, but none of you would hear."

"Time to go, guys!" Luke said, gathering his and Mara's lightsabers and handing hers back to her. "Artoo, get us a turbolift and make sure it doesn't stop along the way."

A minute later, the main turbolift left the top level towards the ground level carrying six humans, two Noghri and two droids.

~x~

By the time the group reached the _Millennium Falcon_, the first explosions from the self-destruct sequence had already been heard and by the time the ship took off, the top level of the Citadel had begun to collapse onto the _Falcon's_ berth.

But that wasn't all.

In the distance, all over the skies, several more explosions were taking place.

"Artoo? Just what kind of virus did you download into that terminal anyway?" Luke asked, turning to his astromech.

Artoo's beeps were translated by Threepio.

"Artoo says it was the Vader Virus. He says he found it in the Emperor's secret files, at the Imperial Palace. Apparently, it was created by Darth Vader just before his death."

"The Force really does have a sense of irony." Leia stated, chuckling. She was definitely _not_ the only one laughing.

"Ok, people. Strap in and get ready for some fancy flyin'," Han said. "We still have to dodge all those explosions."

Just as Han punched in the coordinates for the first hyperspace jump, the half-built cone-shaped space-station exploded in the back.

-TBC...


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter**** Fifteen **

When the _Millennium Falcon_ entered hyperspace, Luke allowed himself a moment to gather his thoughts and fully feel relieved.

The last weeks had been exhausting and the last hours a whirl of anguish and fear.

Between the oppressing weight of the Dark Side all morning, the revelations of some of the monstrosities his father had committed, the feeling of Leia, Han and Chewie being in terrible danger and then Mara's battle with the Emperor's spirit, this had truly been a gruesome day.

He couldn't believe that they had all made it. Sure there were some bruises and cuts and a few burns, and poor Mobvekhar would have a lot of recovering to do from the Force-lightning charge, but he would recover. Luke thanked the Force that Leia had struck down the Emperor before he had a chance to hit the Noghri with a stronger charge.

Luke felt Mara leaning a little more heavily against his shoulder. The fight with the Emperor had taken a bigger toll on her than she cared to admit and she was positively exhausted. He unstrapped himself and Mara and led her to one of the bunks before she fell asleep right there and then stayed with her until she did.

He knew Leia was at the door long before he looked her way, but he didn't let that rush him or stop him from planting a loving kiss on Mara's head before getting up and facing Leia. When he finally did, he found a knowing smile on her lips.

"She's gonna be alright, isn't she?" Leia asked, still concerned for the redhead and her brother's heart.

"Yes, she'll be fine." Luke replied, hugging his sister.

"Good. Now come on and tell us everything. You can start by introducing us to your two new friends so that they can stop being awkward around us."

"Ah, yes," Luke nodded, having forgotten about that little detail. "After that we need to have a little chat with Artoo. It turns out, he knew Father from when he was still a Jedi."

"What?" Leia replied, feeling just as surprised as Luke had been.

~x~

After Luke made all the introductions and recounted the past weeks' events to those who had not been there, including the finding of the holocrons and his expectations for that Jedi artifact, it was Kam's and Daril's turns to tell their stories.

Kam's story was a short one, since he had no recollection of his life prior to his involvement with the dark side, except for some flashes of Vader standing over him and a great amount of pain. Nevertheless, he was glad to have returned to the light and thankful to Luke for his openness and guidance. He said, at one point, that he could feel the joy and support of his father for his new choice in the Force and he pledged to never again walk the dark path.

In return, Luke renewed his own vow of helping him to regain the lost memories of his past.

When it came time for Daril to tell his own story, he began explaining how his life had been as a seven-year-old youngling at the Jedi Temple, and then how he had escaped the attack on the Temple along with a handful of other children, with the help of a couple of the younger Jedi stationed there at the time. He told them that one of the Jedi had taken him back to his family and how they had lived in peace for almost fifteen years, albeit moving from time to time, until the day Vader and his Dark Jedi had caught up with them and killed his parents. Daril had escaped then and kept on escaping until he learned of Vader's death. He had thought then that he was finally free. And he was, for four years, until the Reborn Emperor's Dark Side Elite had picked up where Vader left off.

That was how Daril Thoms had come to be on Byss.

Sometime in the middle of Daril's account, Mara had joined them, feeling much more rested and better. Her mere presence was enough to soothe some of the twinges of guilt Luke felt whenever Vader's name came up.

After Daril finished his own life's story, it was time to drill the truth out of Artoo, and that task proved a lot harder than anticipated.

"Artoo says he has no idea what Mr. Thoms is talking about." Threepio translated.

"Come on, Artoo. You're saying you don't remember me from the Jedi Temple? On Coruscant?" Daril questioned.

Artoo warbled a negative and something else that Threepio translated as: "Artoo says he has never been to the Jedi Temple or Coruscant prior to the establishment of the New republic."

Then pausing for a moment, Threepio turned to his counterpart.

"But Artoo, you told me you had been to Coruscant several times with Queen Amidala."

"Queen Amidala of the Naboo?" Leia asked, remembering the name she had heard often from her parents.

"Yes," Threepio confirmed despite Artoo's protests. "She was one of Artoo's previous masters. I can't believe you've forgotten about her, Artoo. You used to speak very highly of her. Well, just a few months ago you said that she was one of the best masters you'd ever had; remember, we were standing in front of that portrait of her, the one hanging in the Imperial Palace."

"Yes," Luke looked at the little droid with sharp eyes. "And if you remember that, you didn't have your memory erased, did you, Artoo?"

Finding himself completely cornered and figuring that one of the main reasons he was keeping this information from Luke and Leia had been uncovered (the slaughter of the younglings by their father), Artoo decided it was time to tell them the story he was keeping from them - their story and that of their parents. He hoped he would not have to tell the Skywalker twins the other reason he wanted to keep the story from them.

But, in the end Artoo _did_ have to tell them how their mother had died and as painful as that piece of information was for Luke and Leia, at least they had their loved ones around to support them through it and not let them linger on the sorrow of such a disclosure. Despite their parents' tragic story, both Skywalker twins agreed that they were glad to learn of their origins and about the great woman their mother had been.

Artoo's narrative took up most of the trip back and just before the _Millenium Falcon_ landed on its usual berth by the Imperial Palace, he was heard to confide in Threepio that his circuits were now feeling much more uncluttered and his inner transmissions were running much more smoothly than before.

After their arrival, the entire group scattered, each having to attend to their own pressing matters.

~x~ ~x~ ~x~

A while later, after Luke had made sure both Kam and Daril had been assigned comfortable quarters and had assured them that they would begin their training as Jedi as soon as possible, he caught up with Leia and Han in their apartment where they were tending to their dear twins. Apparently the babies had missed them terribly and now refused to let them out of their sight.

"So, Kid, you and Jade got your act together, didn't ya?" Han teased his brother-in-law.

Luke chuckled.

"Yeah, we did." He replied with a dreamy smile. "Which reminds me - Where is she anyway? She was supposed to meet me here a half-hour ago."

"She's probably still talking to Karrde," Leia replied. "He was not happy about her taking off with you like that."

Suddenly, something hard grabbed hold of Luke's heart. Karrde was Mara's employer, she had obligations to him, she had a life that didn't include Luke. What if she decided she wanted that life and not the one Luke had to offer her?

But Luke hadn't offered her a life, not yet. He had opened his heart to her and she had responded in kind. They had bonded in the Force even if not physically. Mara _knew_ him and he _knew_ her. It was something so deep and so strong, so exhilarating, that Luke couldn't fathom himself without it anymore. He knew she loved him just as much as he loved her but they hadn't really discussed anything yet. He hadn't even told her that he loved her?

Luke knew words were important, he had seen them make a difference in Han and Leia's relationship. He had to tell her that he loved her. He had to tell her that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.

Excusing himself, Luke left the Solos' apartment and ran towards Mara. He could feel her presence some levels below, in one of the palace's inner gardens, a beam of light guiding him, and he rushed to her, hoping he wasn't too late.

All the way there, Luke's doubts kept on banging on him. What if Mara didn't want to share a bond with him? She had joined with him willingly, back on the Citadel, but that was before the Emperor had used his own bond with her against her. She might have changed her mind now. Sure, Mara had been supportive throughout the trip back, while Luke listened to more painful revelations about his father, but that didn't mean she wanted to be with him. In fact, she _could_ have reached the conclusion that she didn't want to share her life with someone with so many issues.

When he entered the garden, he found her immediately. She was standing to the far right, talking to Talon Karrde and he pondered if he should wait for them to finish.

No, he shouldn't wait.

Luke came up to them and tapped Mara on the shoulder, calling her attention.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but I really need to talk to you."

"Does it have to be now, Skywalker?" Karrde said, smirking. "Mara and I are in the middle of something."

"Yes, it does." Luke insisted.

"Alright." Mara replied, tapping Luke's chest in a way that made his heart race a little.

Leading the Jedi to the other side of the small garden, where Karrde could still see them but not hear them, Mara inquired: "What is it, Skywalker?"

"Don't go." He practically blurted out.

She raised an eyebrow at his blunt statement and smirked.

"Don't go where, Skywalker?"

"Don't leave, Mara. I love you, Mara. Please, stay with me."

The earnestness in his plea was so moving to Mara that she gave up trying to make him work for it. She reached up and caressed his face with her fingers, and looked him straight in the eyes. Her own eyes were softer than he had ever seen them before. They were filled with love.

"What makes you think I would leave?" She asked gently.

"Weren't you just talking to Karrde about going back with him?"

"No!"

It was Luke's time to smile, but he let her go on.

"I was telling Karrde that I wouldn't go back with him. I thanked him for everything he did for me and for his concern, but I resigned. I told him my path lies somewhere else now. We part as friends and he knows he can count on me for anything."

Luke was now grinning widely. She had already decided to stay with him, despite not being asked. Somehow, while she talked, his hands found their way around her waist and to her back.

"Was there something else you'd like to ask me, Skywalker?"

He leaned his forehead on hers and didn't have to look for his next words. She knew him too well.

"Will you marry me?" He asked, knowing her answer in advance. He knew her too.

Her answer came in the form of the deepest, longest kiss anyone could imagine.

From the other corner of the garden, Talon Karrde excused himself without saying a word. The romantic in him felt truly fortunate to have witnessed such an occasion.


	16. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

_-__ Four months later..._

Luke Skywalker walked swiftly towards the old transport that had just landed on the Imperial Center's main hangar.

From inside the transport came Kam Solusar, followed by a tall, beautiful woman with silvery hair and pearly white eyes, whom Luke had never seen before. After greeting his friend and teacher, Kam introduced the woman.

"Luke, this is Tionne. She is very interested in training with us and sharing the stories she knows about the Old Order."

"Yes, I know many stories, Master Skywalker. Some my grandmother told me, others I picked up through the years. I'm not that strong with the Force, but I'm eager to learn." Tionne said.

"We'll love to hear them all, Tionne. But please don't call me Master. I have not earned the title yet." Luke replied, trying to make her feel at home.

"She also sings beautifully." Kam commented to Luke making Tionne blush, and Luke could tell there was something else there. Kam seemed much more relaxed than before, and there was a stronger light emanating from him. It had been a while since the two men spoke in person, so the difference was quite remarkable.

If fact, Luke hadn't seen Kam in almost two months, since they had parted ways to conduct investigations in view of speeding up the reconstruction of the Jedi Order.

Right after having arrived on Coruscant from Byss, Luke had started training Kam and Daril, along with Mara and Leia (when she could spare the time), in the ways of the Jedi and helping Kam and Mara regain their lost memories. This had proven to be a very fruitful endeavor in Kam's case but not so much in Mara's, since it turned out she had been really very young when she was taken by the Emperor.

But doing these things plus researching the holocrons brought from Byss, locating surviving Jedi from the Old Order (something the Tedryn Holocron had information n how to achieve), going through more of the Emperor's secret data, inquiring about his mother's family and planning a wedding were proving a little too much for the Lukedi, so his students had decided to take some of his load off.

Kam and Daril had gone of to one side, to research some locations loaded with Jedi history while Luke and Mara went the other way, looking for actual members of the Old Order, and Leia stayed and dealt with the Emperor's files, contacted an old friend from the Senate who turned out to be their cousin and planned the wedding, helped by her best friend Winter.

This arrangement had gone well and everyone was returning to Coruscant for Luke and Mara's wedding. Well, almost everyone because, Daril was nowhere to be found. When Luke asked about him, Kam laughed.

"Daril is very sorry, but he felt he should stay on Ossus. He said he wanted to go on trying to convince the Ysanna Elders to let their young train with us." Kam explained. He already told Luke about Ossus and the Ysanna, a local tribe whose members were very strong in the Force.

"But that's not all, is it?" Luke asked, noting Kam's amusement.

"No. There's this girl there called Jem. They are growing very close."

"Well, if that's the case, then he's forgiven." Luke said, chuckling. "Come, my friends and freshen up. You two need to get ready for the wedding."

While Luke led Kam and Tionne to the guest wing of the Palace, he continued filling them in.

Luke's search for Jedi had also been fruitful and he and Mara had located a dozen of Jedi of the Old Republic, including a Jedi Master called Vima-Da-Boda, the Jedi that had helped Daril escape the Temple and even Anakin Skywalker's former padawan - a Togruta by the name of Ahsoka Tano who had agreed to help teach the new Jedi.

They had also managed to recruit several new apprentices among the New Republic staff and military, including Admiral Ackbar's niece, Cilghal, who was very keen in learning the healing arts, and a pilot from Rogue Squadron called Corran Horn.

Now, all they needed was a place for the Academy. Luke had already ruled out Coruscant, because he didn't felt the Jedi should strive to be independent from the government, which had not pleased Leia who hoped to have Luke nearby; and he was leaning towards taking the Academy to Yavin 4, because of the good days he had spent stationed there, but now Kam was making a very good argument towards Ossus, saying that it would help with convincing the Ysanna if their young remained on planet and Luke was divided.

Well, he didn't have to decide now. He'd visit Ossus with Mara, after their honeymoon on Naboo, and get a feel for the place.

Thinking of Mara made Luke yearn to be with her. _'Patience, Farmboy, just one more day.'_ He heard her whisper through their bond.

~x~ ~x~ ~x~

The next day, Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade were wed.

It was a small wedding, by royalty standards; only seven hundred guests. Leia had assured them that in a normal wedding, the head count usually surpassed two thousand. Nevertheless, there were a lot of people there that neither bride nor groom had ever met.

Later in the day, after they had become husband and wife, they were able to sneak away and just be with their closest friends and family, including Luke and Leia's newfound Naberrie family. It was then that Mara noticed Leia acting a little strange, making strange food combinations and staying away from alcoholic beverages.

"Leia," Mara called, "is there something you'd like to tell us?"

Leia sighed and exchanged a glance with Han, who just gave her a lopsided grin that seemed to say 'busted'.

"I guess. I was going to wait and tell you later because this is _your_ day, but since you've figured it out - I'm pregnant."

Luke got up and hurried to hug his sister and brother-in-law, followed by Mara, Winter, Lando, Chewie and event the droids.

When all the hugging stopped, there were tears running down Leia's cheeks.

"Now, see what you've all done. I'm weepy. And this is supposed to be Luke and Mara's day, not mine."

"No, Leia. Sharing this day with you and your new baby only adds to our day." Luke said, placing one arm over Leia's shoulders and another over Mara's and hugging them both.

He was happy now and it seemed a lifetime ago that he was battling the darkness of the Emperor and inside himself. He was starting a new life with the woman that he loved more than anything, and he knew he could count on her to help him through the hardships that life might throw at them.

Together they had vanquished the shadows of their pasts and together they would welcome their future.

It was as it should be.

-END-


End file.
